The Blue Warriors Futsal Club, who were launched with aims of revolutionizing the growing sport have ceased operations due to lack of support and financial issues.
The club who have been covered by CSR and BPVE were formed last year by members of the Visakha FC “ultras” known as the Blue Warriors. Their aim at inception were to be to futsal what Visakha had been to association football. Futsal is the indoor version of the game played at a much higher pace and with less players. It is one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
You can read about the Blue Warriors here
How did they do?
The club competed and won the 2022 Tiger Cup, before planning to take part in the currently ongoing 2023 Ganzberg Cup, which was offering $15,000 in prize money. The cup was to feature op 32 clubs within the Kingdom and act as the effective national championship.
To read about the Ganzberg Cup click here
Sadly after the start of the competition the club decided that they would not be able to complete their fixtures and instead opted to drop out of the league.
This month the Futsal authorities announced the draw for the 2023 Tiger Cup, which will feature just 19 sides, suggesting wider financial and support problems throughout the sport in Cambodia.
Why have Blue Warriors Futsal Club ceased operations?
According to a club official who asked not to be named the end came due to lack of support from Visakha FC and money, with him telling us “It costs around $30,000 to run a successful Futsal team in Cambodia, much of which can be gotten back from prize money. We had been led to believe that as the supporters club of the richest club in Cambodian football we would be looked after, but this was not the case and we have therefore had to cease operations”.
Unlike other countries where futsal is popular clubs are generally not affiliated with professional Cambodian clubs within Cambodia, an area which many feel is stifling the growth of the sport within the Kingdom.
Cambodian currently rank 32nd in Asian Football Confederation, one above tiny Timor-Leste, with the balance of lower sides being largely represented by tiny nations such as Brunei and the Maldives.
This article is adapted from BPVE SPORT Cambodia, reported and edited from the great team – Cambodia Sports Review.
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