LAHORE: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) announced on Wednesday that the first ever National Futsal Championship will be held from December 21-23 at Liaquat Gymnasium Hall Islamabad.

The players registered in Pakistan Premier League and PFF League will not be allowed to take part in next month’s eight team show.

PFF has set December 10, 2010 as the last date for the event registration of four provinces and four regions for participation.

It is clarified that no team would be accepted after the given deadline and the provinces/regions who will fail to send the names of teams to play in the coming event before the deadline would not be eligible to compete in the competition.

PFF has already sent a letter to the eight affiliated units of Pakistan viz Football Associations of Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa, Balochistan, Islamabad, FATA, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir, PFF Secretary,Ahmed Khan Lodhi to send their entries by December 10.

The PFF Futsal Committee met and discussed the organisation of the National Futsal Championship on an annual basis to boost the popularity of the sport in Pakistan.

A futsal match consists of two equal periods of 20 minutes. The length of either half is extended to allow penalty kicks to be taken or a direct free kick to be taken against a team that has committed more than five fouls. The half time interval between the two halves cannot exceed 15 minutes.

Futsal is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goal keeper Unlimited substitutes per team are permitted.