Choosing Between Indoor Soccer, Outdoor Soccer, and Futsal at Your Sports Complex

If you plan on offering soccer at your sports complex, there are several considerations you need to make. Do you plan on offering indoor soccer, outdoor soccer, futsal, or multiple options? These are questions you should be asking at the facility planning stage. The differences between these types of soccer mean you can’t just build a field and expect that it will work for all different style of play. Today in the Sports Facilities Management blog we’ll talk about the different ways you can offer soccer at your sports complex.

Outdoor Soccer

This is probably the form of soccer that people are most familiar with. If you’re planning on offering outdoor soccer, there are various factors to keep in mind. First, if you plan on holding tournaments at your sports complex, you’ll need room for multiple fields. Also, an outdoor soccer field is fairly big, so you’ll need to make sure you have enough land in the first place. Your soccer fields must be regulation size in order to hold games and tournaments on them. You also should consider whether your market is right for outdoor soccer. Most places have temperate enough weather during soccer season for this to be a non-issue, but it’s still something to keep in mind.

Indoor Soccer

Indoor soccer fields are smaller and they can also be played in year round. This means you can hold tournaments, camps, and clinics during colder weather. One negative of indoor soccer is the fact that it’s harder to have multiple indoor fields. Creating the space for and maintaining a large amount of indoor fields is more difficult than doing the same for outdoor fields. Also, the utilities for indoor fields will be much more costly. Still, indoor soccer continues to increase in popularity, so it’s definitely worth considering if your sports complex and your market can accommodate it.

Futsal

Finally, we have futsal. While futsal shares some similarities with indoor soccer, it’s a much more fast-paced, technical form of soccer. Also, you can’t use an indoor soccer field as a futsal field. Futsal fields are specially designed. They’re smaller with small goals and walls surrounding the area of play. If you’re planning on offering futsal at your sports complex, you’ll need to create a separate space for it. Again, it’s worth considering because it allows you to have guests playing year-round and because of the ever increasing popularity of the sport.

Contact Us About Your Sports Complex

Sports Facilities Management specializes in sports complex planning, design, and management. If you’re planning on building or making changes to an existing sports complex, contact us. We can advise you on the best course of action. Call today for more information or continue browsing our website.