Day Four wrap: National Futsal Championships 2025

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Western Australia has two Gold Fields WA State Futsal teams aiming for grand final glory at the National Futsal Championships in Melbourne on Sunday.

The Football West Men’s side will take on Football Victoria (Tigers) in the Open final, while the Football West Boys U14s clinched a spot in their decider against Football NSW (Thunder).

On a fantastic day of futsal at the State Netball and Hockey Centre, four other Football West sides reached the semi-finals.

NFC 25 — Justin Tang lets flies for the WA Men in their semi-final against Football NSW (Thunder). Photo by Luke Hemer

The WA Men’s team laid down a marker in the morning with an 11-3 demolition of hosts Football Victoria (Navy). Charlie Garnham continued his prolific tournament with four more goals, Luke Ross got two, and Stewart Kerr, Amar Jehel, Justin Tang, Christopher Rocchi and Alessandro De Andrade Basto also struck.

That set up a last-four clash against NSW (Thunder) for Nestor Fonseca’s side, who came from 2-1 behind at the break to win 4-2. Garnham got one, Futsalroo star Tyler Garner also scored, as did Tang and Basto.

“It was hard work, a very strange game, we had to adjust but we were lucky enough to get through,” Fonseca said.

“We decided to play fifth man and it worked well, we worked hard to wear them out as much as possible.”

WA will face Victoria Tigers in the final, who had to survive their own semi-final nailbiter, chasing a maiden men’s national title.

“I believe it is at nationals, we’ve been sending senior teams to nationals for the past three years and the past two have been clubs,” Fonseca said.

“We made a semi-final last year and this will be our first final, which is remarkable for us.

“To come here and compete against the best of the best, these boys have worked very hard – Tyler is now playing for the national team and he brought his experience.

“They’re all very young, so I’m sure they’ll be ready to go in about half-an-hour.”

The Boys U14s began their tournament with a 5-0 pool loss on Day One but since then they have been outstanding. That was shown again in this morning’s last-eight tie as they knocked out Football South Australia 6-3 thanks to goals from Reed Thompson (2), Leandro Jesus (2), Dylan Winardi and Anthony Ciffolilli.

Chris Castro’s players then faced Football Victoria in the semis and it turned out to be a cracker, with WA equalising twice in the final five minutes before grabbing a winner in extra-time to advance 4-3. Winardi got two including the winner, while Cameron Papiccio with an audacious chest finish and Jesus got the others.

Castro, named Youth Men’s Coach of the Tournament 12 months ago on the Gold Coast, has his eyes on an even bigger prize.

“What a game! I’m proud of how the boys refused to be beaten,” he said. “Victoria gave us a great battle but we just would not give in. We made it 2-2 near the end, then they went and got a penalty and we looked in trouble. But in futsal you always have a chance, and the boys came up with a great goal to send it to extra-time and we got the winner. I think we deserved it in the end.

“Now for the final. We know it’s going to be tough but the spirit of this team is unbelievable. We’re going there to win and we want to bring a national title back to WA.”

Elsewhere, the Boys U12s got the ball rolling for WA with a 4-3 defeat of Football Queensland (White) in their quarter-final. Lucas Di Perna, Novak Golub, Davi Silva Borges and Tomas Jesus grabbed the goals to put Umbi Di Tullio’s team one game from the grand final. The semi against Queensland (Maroon) proved equally exciting, only this time the WA boys were on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline despite goals by Gabriele Schmiedgen (2) and Roman Fico.

The Girls U13s have had an excellent week and they were on form this morning with Ciara Upton and Savanna Glavovic giving them a 2-1 quarter-final victory over Football Victoria (Navy). Glavovic was among the goals again in the semis but Salv Todaro’s outfit simply found Queensland (Maroon) too good.

The WA Women’s side have also performed strongly in the Open category. They were on form again this morning in their quarter-final against Football NSW (Lightning), winning 2-1 through Theo Mouithys’ extra-time winner which followed Alyssa Van Heurck’s effort. The semi against Capital Football (Blue) proved a game too far but coach Jose Galindo and the players can look back on their week with pride.

Anthony Fico’s Boys U15s side also made the last four, going down 3-1 to Football Queensland in an evenly contested match. Milos Golub got the goal.

The Boys U13s, coached by Tyler Garner, gave a good account of themselves before losing their quarter-final against Football Victoria (Navy). Adam Ikhlef and Tedeset Adugna were the scorers in a 4-2 loss.

Finally, the Youth Men’s tough week ended with a heavy defeat to Football NSW (Thunder).