Asset manager Foresight Group has invested £3.25 million in a company that provides indoor pitches for “small-sided” football game Futsal.
Asset manager Foresight Group has invested £3.25 million in a company that provides indoor pitches for “small-sided” football game Futsal.
The company, named @Futsal, is led by the former management team of facilities management business Covion, which was also backed by Foresight before its sale to Balfour Beatty in 2007 for £33 million. Covion co-founders Frank Rodriguez and David Steventon take the roles of managing director and non-executive chairman at @Futsal, with Jim Sanger, a former non-executive director of Covion, taking the same position at @Futsal.
The company aims to open 30 sites over the next four years, each of them offering multiple pitches for Futsal, a form of small-sided football which has its origins in South America in the 1930s. The first site, a three-pitch centre in Swindon, opened last month.
According to Foresight, an agreement has already been made with Nike to sell clothing in the centres, which will also feature catering and bar facilities and related retail outlets.
Chris Price, an investment manager at Foresight, comments, ‘[Futsal] has a wide appeal, attracting organised mid-week leagues as well as more informal gatherings, and we believe that the provision of dedicated Futsal centres in major population catchments represents a significant growth opportunity.’
