Hostels to Samba stars, how the sport was born

Brazil lift the the Futsal World Cup trophy in 2008.

The first game of futsal, derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol de salón, is widely believed to have been played in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930, when Juan Carlos Ceriani, the "father of futsal", created a five-a-side version of "hall football" for competitions in youth hostels. Ceriani's game quickly caught on across South America, particularly in Brazil, where formative years are often spent playing it. Generations of players have mastered their abilities in futsal before going on to set the more popular, outdoor, 11-a-side version of the game alight.

From Pele, Zico and Socrates, to Bebeto, Ronaldinho and Robinho, many of Brazil's big names learned their skills in futsal. Thus, it is little wonder that Brazil - the world's top-ranked side - have won four of the six Futsal World Cups. Only Spain, winners in 2000 and 2004, have halted the trend. Futsal's rules, while stemming from outdoor football, are distinctly their own. Designed to emphasise improvisation, creativity, technique, skill and passing in restricted spaces, the first rule is that a team must start with five players: four outfield players and one goalkeeper, who can leave their quarter-circle penalty box, but not pick the ball up outside it.

Feet are the key and throw-ins do not exist: kick-ins from the floor are standard. Yellow and red cards are shown as normal, but an "accumulation of team fouls" rule means a direct free-kick is awarded on a team's sixth foul. There are four referees: one in each half, one in charge of the score and one in charge of time-keeping (every stoppage is amassed). If the two 20-minute halves end in a draw, two extra-time periods of five minutes are played. Teams receive one time-out per half of regulation play.