Foundation of Light Futsal take national silverware

Foundation of Light Men’s Futsal took the National Futsal League T3 National Plate thanks to a 9-4 win over Portsmouth and Southsea live on TNT Sports.

The cup win marks a high point of an outstanding season for the Sunderland side who narrowly missed out on a promotion place after an impressive league campaign.

Foundation of Light Futsal have previously fell at the semi-final stage of the National Plate, but this year they came through after a thriller against a strong South London side.

The Lads were pegged back five times after taking a one goal advantage before finally breaking away to win 7-5.

This earned them a place in the final in Derby, broadcasted to a national audience on TNT Sports, and the Sunderland side were up for the occasion.

Facing Portsmouth and Southsea, the match looked to be following a similar pattern to the semi-final, the Foundation side taking the lead twice but conceding equalisers for 2-2.

However, Sunderland started to pull away, leading 4-2 at half-time before dominating from the start of the second half to secure the trophy with a 9-4 win.

“The cup final win was a result of work started five years ago on the Futsal Scholarship Programme,” explained Michael Haley.

“It was a well-deserved win and an appearance on TV to showcase the work behind the scenes. We are now fully focused on next season's push for promotion to tier two.”

Haley, who coaches on the Futsal Scholarship alongside his work with the Sunderland Foundation of Light team, remains committed to growing futsal in the North East.

“Three seasons ago we created the men’s team as an exit route for our Futsal Scholarship Programme,” he added.

“Little did we know when we entered the National Futsal League, three years later we would be playing on live TV and winning our first trophy.

“Futsal in the North East isn’t as big as other parts of the country, with our closest league game this season being 115 miles away.

“We hope our recent success is the first domino in a chain of events that sees support for our men’s team to allow us to gain promotion next season.”

Foundation of Light Men’s Futsal are currently looking for sponsorships ahead of the 2024/25 season. If you or your company would like to support a hard-working group representing Sunderland nationally, please contact michael_haley@hotmail.co.uk to discuss opportunities.

Of the nine players that starred in the final, eight have been through the Foundation of Light’s Scholarship programmes (one football scholar, six futsal scholars, and one futsal scholarship staff member).

If you would like to combine your education while representing SAFC and developing in futsal with UEFA A and B qualified coaches, find out more about our Scholarship Programme: Click Here