UCC women's team impress at European Futsal Championships

THE World Cup has been the highlight of women’s soccer over the past few weeks, closer to home UCC represented Cork and Irish Colleges and Universities at the European Futsal Championships in Croatia.

An unbelievable experience for all involved as they secured two wins but more importantly the experience gained at playing at such a high level will hopefully be brought forward into their new season. 

Manager Stephen O’Keeffe said there was great pride in representing the country.

“To be part of such a superb championship was amazing for all involved,” said O’Keeffe.

“The championships were unbelievable, the whole setup was second to none from the transport to the accommodation. The players were treated like professional players for ten days which was a great experience for them. The way the tournament was run was amazing, EUSA and the organisers deserve huge credit on how smoothly the whole event ran. With the standard being so high on the court the players had to take a lot of new information on board which they did, and it was a fantastic learning experience for them.” 

UCC topped the regional qualifiers back in January with wins over MTU, Waterford and UCC B. They went forward to the finals which saw them overcome Galway, TUD and DKIT. To win the title was a huge achievement but the incentive to represent Ireland at a European stage was something that really drove the girls on. This was just a second Futsal crown for the college and one that will be remembered by all the players and staff.

The time frame between the finals in March to us departing in July was a little tight to get everything sorted and ready but it was a challenge both the players and coaching staff embraced which made the whole thing a lot easier. 

"There was a lot going on from training, fundraising, booking flights and getting athlete forms submitted and approved but the sports department and especially Greg Yelverton and Christine O’Donovan were a great support to us since the beginning. We organised two fundraising events: a table quiz in Flannery’s and a car wash event at the South Link Service Station. I would like to thank both businesses for their support over the past few months and I hope we can keep and develop this strong link with them.

“The squad that travelled were fantastic, there was such a togetherness both on and off the court and they were always so professional. Given the competition guidelines we brought 12 players, all players who won the national title were given the opportunity with a few unable to travel due to work commitments and J1’s so then we called upon players who would have played 11-a-side with us during the season." 

They had a wide variety of players from different counties with six from Cork while we also had players coming from Sligo, Galway, and Limerick.

“In our group games we first played the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway) and while we were beaten it was a huge learning curve t up to the pace of the game playing in unreal heat. We then played the University of Split (Croatia) drawing 4-4 and then winning 5-4 on penalties, with this result we finished second in the group. In the preliminary quarter-final we were beaten 4-2 by Tampere University (Finland) in what was a very competitive and physical game. 

"Next game we played University of Coimbra (Portugal) and the result was in favour of Portugal. Our final game was against the University of Split, winning 4-1."

The standard was extremely high, but the squad built on their knowledge game by game.

I am very proud of their effort and how their applied new learnings to each game. The pace and the physicality was something new. 

"In Ireland, we are not exposed to that level of intensity and physically and this coupled with the heat was something we struggled with in the opening game. For the squad to regroup after game one, learning and then apply their learnings in game two to achieve a win was something special, not many teams would be able to do that so all the players deserve huge credit and should be very proud of what they have achieved.

"The next European Championships will be in 2025 in Zagreb so we hoping to build on the work done to date and qualify again."