6-time Best Futsal Player of the Year, 2-time Primera Division de Futsal Best Player, UEFA Futsal Championship winner, Portuguese Futsal & Japan Futsal Championship title, FIFA Futsal World Cup Champion, Best Player, Golden Shoe, just to list down a few of the accomplishments it is enough to show how legendary and great this futsal player is.
Portugal’s Ricardinho and his current team Pendekar United was in Singapore for an exhibition match under the invite of Singapore’s Kampung Buangkok FC. Junpiter Futbol had the privilege to sit down with the 37-year-old for an exclusive chat on his achievements, his aspiration for Southeast Asian & Asian futsal and more.
Q) You have played in many top futsal leagues in the world, what makes you decide to come over to Southeast Asia, Indonesia?
A) Good question. To most, if not all the futsal players, the Spanish league, Portuguese league, Italian league or Brazilian league are the strongest and the most professional leagues in the world. But when there are opportunities to go to countries like Japan or Indonesia, I think it is a good opportunity for me to help raise more awareness for the game. Sometimes, I also think it is my job to help the players, the teams and even the federations to grow, to develop futsal in these up-and-coming countries.
For example, the futsal league in Indonesia is relatively new. They do not have the experience of doing the training twice a day, gym work, video analysis or checking in to camp on eve of the match day and various preparations. Now, they are aware of these and working on it. So you see, I think that’s one of the biggest reasons why I accepted this challenge to come to a country like Indonesia. I want to help them grow the sport.
But then again, I always feel that every federation can do more for the sport. We also need people to have an open mind and are willing to listen to the feedback and change for the better. I have met people who think that I could speak whatever I want just because I am the best. Absolutely no. All of these are not for me. I am too old to enjoy all these. All the advice that I am giving from my experience is meant for the younger players that are coming up in the next 10 years. I am giving them advice so that they can be more professional, they can have better playing conditions and environment and can showcase a better “product” (futsal) to the fans going down to watch them play.
Q) How different are the futsal leagues in Europe and Asia?
The difference is way too huge. First of all, Europe has a much longer history of futsal as compared to Asia. Let’s look at the Spanish league. All the players want to play in Spain because of its high level of futsal. The coaches there are top-notched, and the intensity of the training, and the concentration required to be playing week in and week out is insane. The league is just very competitive with many teams capable of defeating each other anytime.
In terms of training intensity, professionalism or level, if we think Indonesia is good, Japan’s is certainly much better. But if you were to compare Japan’s to Europe’s, the difference will be too significant – Europe has got the better infrastructure and eco-system.
When I played in F-League (Japan), I noticed Nagoya Oceans was the only better team. The rest of the teams were just trying to catch up. But in Europe, it is different. Europe will always have new teams coming up to challenge for the greatest honour every few years. That is how strong and advanced the futsal in Europe is.
Ricardinho showing his skills against Singapore’s Kampung Buangkok in an exhibition match.
Q) You have seen and even played against some good Asian teams like Iran, Japan, UAE, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and more. In your opinion, how can Asian futsal improve?
Asian futsal is doing a great job, to be honest. They are bringing in top foreign coaches and players to the leagues. Sometimes, you need the experienced to come in and share their knowledge. For example, certain coaches only play with a Pivot, but maybe another coach will come in and share that a 4-0 formation also works in a certain scenario. We need to open up our minds and be willing to learn from the best. Try to bring in good and experienced Brazilians, Portuguese or Spanish players/coaches, the team will naturally be able to learn from them. Remember, you will only improve if the coaches improved. And if a player improves, they will then be ready to compete against the bigger teams.
Look at Iran, they are sending players to the Russian league, Spanish league and more. Iran is a team that understands what it takes to compete at the highest level. That’s one huge factor why they are doing so well on the international stage. So I think the FA and the clubs need to work together to continue to bring in experienced futsal coaches or players to enhance the entire ecosystem.
Next, the mentality of the player has to be correct. I am playing in Indonesia now and players would always ask me how I could train with such high intensity and be so strong all the time. Previously, I was not a professional, but you can always be a professional even if you’re not playing in a professional league. This is all about the correct mentality.
Q) You were such a big hit when you first came to Asia to play for F-League’s Nagoya Oceans in Japan. Tell us more about those days.
I love Japan a lot. While I was there, they took great care of everything off the pitch so that I could focus on my training and games. It’s really good and professional. During my stint in Japan, I have learnt a lot too. I learned how to respect people more, how to accept failure (when you lose a game), how to continue to improve, how to be patient and how to adapt. You can’t go to Japan and expect everyone to adapt to your play just because you’re a foreigner. So only after you have blended into the team, you can slowly share with the team why you’re doing this and why you’re doing that. That’s when the team will accept you and your ideas more. Honestly, Japan is my second favourite country (after Portugal). We watched a lot of your futsal tutorials which you have done while you were in Japan. We love it! Haha, we did those tutorials that’s because futsal players love those sorts of stuff. So I have players coming to me saying since I know so many skills why don’t I teach them? And I think about it, it’s a good opportunity because I like to share as well. We all improve together.
Q) Talk about Pendekar United?
When I first accepted this challenge to play for Pendekar United in Indonesia, the club was only just one year old. They did not really have an idea of how professional futsal should be run. They did not have a proper structure and certainly no vision as they were new. Now, the team is in its second year. They are starting to understand why they need to train more, why they need to have adequate rest in between training sessions and why they need to have a better and balanced diet. They are starting to improve and this will be good for the team. Result-wise, so far we have registered victories against most if not all of the smaller teams in the league, but we still have a lot to catch up on whenever we play against the stronger and more experienced teams.
Ricardinho (No.10) representing Portugal in the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
Q) You have won EVERYTHING in futsal. Is there any other thing that you feel that you have not achieved?
People used to come up to me and said I have won everything except World Cup. So after lifting the FIFA Futsal World Cup with Portugal last year, I have won everything in futsal. You cannot tell me one title I don’t have. Thank God! But then again, I won everything I could but, as a team. The win is together with all my teammates I played with and all the coaches that I have worked with.
When I started to play futsal, especially at the highest level, my target is to be a good player and set a good example for the younger ones. I have never thought of winning anything. But when I started to win, winning both team and individual awards, hmmm.. that’s when I started to rethink again, maybe I should reset my target so that I could continue to improve. Thereafter, I started to play for professional clubs and eventually made my way to the National Team. And come to this international level, it’s tough. Brazil is better than us, and Spain is better than us, I started to question if Portugal could really do it. And I am glad that all of us in the Portugal team believe in ourselves. We continue to work hard and thank god, we have won the World Cup now.
With that World Cup in the bag, I think I have won everything I set out to do. Now, it’s time for me to give back to the community using what futsal has given me all this while. I want to share my experience with all the younger ones. Like this trip, I am extremely delighted to have the opportunity to come over to Singapore under the invite of Kampung Bangkok FC. This is a good way for us to showcase futsal and do share more with the community on what futsal is about. That is why I try to be an Ambassador in such a capacity to share more about futsal with the world.
Ricardinho sharing his experiences with the boys in Singapore.
Q) Singapore futsal?
I think Singapore need to put in a lot of effort to promote futsal. I know Singapore already have a lot of sports but we need to promote futsal and show people know why they can choose futsal as their sport. So one good way for such promotion is to bring in good teams from Europe or maybe a National Team and showcase top futsal to the people here. Don’t worry about the exhibition match result. Nowadays, it is very common for a local team to lose 10-0 or more, especially if the opponent is a more stronger and experienced team.
Think about it, in football, it’s harder to bring in Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi because football is already on a different level. But futsal has lesser idols – so it will be easier for anyone to bring a top team, National Team or player to Singapore in such an instance. Furthermore, another biggest advantage Singapore have is the language. It will be so much easier for you guys to bring in top overseas players or coaches. In countries like Indonesia or Thailand, you will always need a translator where sometimes the real meaning of the contents or sharing for the betterment of futsal will be misinterpreted.
And finally, as more players come forward to play futsal, I hope that Singapore will have its professional futsal league and gradually build up a futsal ecosystem soon.
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