What happened this Summer? A LOT.

Twenty years in Columbus. New opportunities around the world. More places to play at home.

This summer, Columbus Futsal players learned from coaches from Argentina, trained with futsal legends in Virginia and competed in Orlando on both the youth and professional stages. At Tuttle Park, approximately 200 players helped us celebrate where our story began.

Each experience opened a door: a first chance to play, a new level of training or a bigger stage on which to represent Columbus.

World-class coaching came to Columbus

On June 9–10, Matías Lucuix and Julia Dupuy joined us at Heatwave Arena for the Argentina Futsal Camp. Matías, head coach of Argentina’s men’s national futsal team, and Julia, an Argentina women’s national team player, worked with players ages 8–15.

Across 12 hours of training, our athletes explored Argentine approaches to technique, individual decisions and collective play. They got to learn directly from people with experience at the highest levels of futsal, then take those ideas back into their own games.

Ten CFA players took the next step in Virginia

Ten Columbus Futsal Academy players participated in United Futsal’s National Training Camp in Richmond, Virginia. Coach Dante Garcia served as an NTC director this year, helping lead an experience that brought selected young players together for five days of training, competition and feedback.

Our players learned from futsal legends Gabriel Lima, Miguelín and Deives Moraes. Training with athletes and coaches of that caliber gave them a closer view of the skill, speed of thought and commitment the game demands at its highest levels.

NTC also offered a path forward. Players selected from camp received invitations to United Futsal’s FUTURES program, which takes place in the Barcelona area of Spain in January 2027. There, selected young athletes will train and compete in an international environment. For our CFA players, Virginia showed that their work in Columbus can lead to opportunities well beyond it.

Twenty years, right where we started

On June 27, Founders Cup brought us back to Tuttle Park, where Columbus Futsal began in 2006.

The day brought together 36 teams, approximately 200 players, seven divisions and 84 games. Twelve vendors and community partners joined the celebration.

Those numbers show the scale of one day. Its meaning was in seeing different generations share the park: alumni returning, young players competing and new families finding a place in the community. Twenty years later, Tuttle Park was still bringing people together through the game.

Columbus reached the world stage

In July,  CFA youth teams traveled to Orlando for the World Futsal Championships and United Futsal’s Champions Cup Series (CCS) Finals, testing themselves against elite competition from around the globe.

At the World Futsal Championships, our 2016 Boys battled through one of the toughest Gold Divisions, securing a top-five finish through an epic 1v1 tiebreaker battle. With the pressure on, the boys rose to the occasion. Our 2017 Boys earned bronze on the world stage, adding another proud moment for CFA.

At the CCS Finals, the 2015 Boys earned bronze, the 2016 Boys won silver, and the 2017/2018 Boys brought home bronze. Our 2013 Boys finished fourth following a hard-fought 1v1 tiebreaker loss.

They faced unfamiliar opponents and experienced a level of competition they could carry home. Every match asked players to adapt, support one another and see how far their development could take them.

Behind those finishes were moments of courage, composure and teamwork. Players stepped forward when their teams needed them, handled the highs and heartbreak of competition, and returned to Columbus with experience that will shape their next steps on the court.

Orlando marked another milestone when Columbus Futsal’s men competed in the inaugural World Futsal Championships PRO Division, facing international opposition that included Brazilian giants Vasco da Gama.

Our roster featured futsal legends Miguelín and Gabriel Lima, alongside young talent rising through the ranks of the futsal world, including CFA players. Sharing the court with established professionals—and competing against a club with Vasco da Gama’s history—gave those young athletes firsthand experience of the demands and possibilities of the professional game.

For a club that began at Tuttle Park, it was a powerful moment: Columbus represented on an international stage, with the next generation helping write the story.

More ways to find the game

Through the Columbus Futsal Foundation, free play continued with renewed support from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. A child can show up, join a game and come back the next week. That open invitation has been part of Columbus Futsal for 20 years, and it remains central to making the game accessible.

Our coaches also introduced futsal at the Columbus Community Youth Camp at KIPP Columbus, alongside the Greater Columbus Sports Commission and The Columbus Foundation. The four-day camp gave children ages 6–12 a chance to try more than a dozen sports, including futsal.

We brought the game into more community spaces through Retro Screamers 3v3 at Land-Grant, the Grandview Hop and Festa’s Columbus International Festival. Each court gave someone another way to watch, try or join in.

A first game. A national camp. A world championship.

We also helped make futsal part of the school day by painting a court on the blacktop playground at Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy (CSIA). The court gives students a place to play, connect with classmates and discover the game right where they spend their days.

This summer showed how those moments connect. Thank you to every player, family, coach, volunteer and partner who helped make them possible. As we begin our next 20 years, we’re working to give more people a place to start and more players a path to keep growing.