On Monday, Sergio Gargelli was appointed the head coach of the Finnish men’s futsal team with a contract lasting until summer 2025. The “Futsal World Traveler” has previously coached Vietnam and Chinese national teams, among others.
– I had two dreams when I started coaching: knocking down Brazil and getting to the World Cup.
This is what the new head coach of the Finnish men’s futsal team, a 47-year-old Italian, says Sergio Gargelli.
Gargelli has already achieved his first of these dreams. He wants to get to the World Cup with Finland. Finland has not played in the World Championships in futsal before, but at the European Championships level, the men’s national team performed brilliantly at the beginning of the year.
On Monday, the summer of 2025, the Football Association released a contract with Gargell. The next World Cup will be played in 2024 and the qualifiers will start next autumn.
– Hi, I’m Sergio Gargelli, a futsal world traveler. A passionate futsal coach and unwavering optimist dedicated to the growth of futsal around the world.
From China to Akasa
Gargelli arrived in Finland last year when he started as the head coach of Akaa Futsal, who plays in the Futsal League. Prior to that, Gargelli, who had extensive international experience, worked in Asia for a long time.
Most recently, he piloted the Chinese national team since 2018. As head coach, he was also on the Vietnam and Norwegian national teams. Gargelli has coached club teams in his home country of Italy, Qatar, Vietnam and China.
Gargelli originally ended up in Akaas through a Finnish coach who had followed online training led by an Italian pilot. He contacted Gargell and said Akaa Futsal has been looking for a coach.
Gargell’s Asian tour began as early as 2007 in Japan, where he served as second coach and goalkeeper coach on the futsal team.
– I have worked in seven different countries. They have been wonderful experiences. I had traveled in Asia before, says Gargelli, who says she is passionate about Asia through literature.
The first of the two dreams came true in Vietnam in 2013
Gargelli has already been able to celebrate his victory over Brazil. That miracle happened when Vietnam beat Brazil in a 2013 four-country tournament 3–2. Brazil was the reigning world champion in the 2012 World Cup.
– Futsal was a fairly unknown species in Vietnam. I told the federation that we need to hold a tournament every year to raise the image of the sport. At first, I was annoyed when no one came to watch the national team’s games, says Gargelli, who developed the Vietnamese futsal four years ago and was washed to the culmination of a historic victory for Brazil.
– I told the players, “Enjoy, we’re playing against the world champion.” I said we should not be afraid. The players played with a big heart. When we scored the first goal, I thought we were at least leading Brazil. When we won, the players came to say, “koutsi, you don’t understand what you’ve done?”. Brazil had not lost many matches by then.
Gargelli, in particular, glows that there were zero spectators in his first international match in Vietnam. There were already more than 3,000 people who bought a ticket in the last tournament.
Gargelli moved to Qatar, but the development of the Vietnamese futsal team continued. In 2016, Vietnam played for the first time in the World Championships in futsal.
“It’s really hard to play against Finland”
Gargelli does not promise that Finland will reach the World Cup in his coaching.
– I can’t promise, because it’s not just me and the Finnish players. There is always an opponent as well. In sports, it may not be enough to do things well. But I can promise that we will do our best, and the Finnish national team has already shown at the European Championships that it can win anyone.
According to Gargell, the strength of the Finnish futsal team is intensity. Even at the European Championships, Finland was able to shake up its pre-favorites with its aggressive, bold press.
– The team is able to perform at a physically demanding level. It is really hard to play against Finland. It must remain in the DNA of Finnish futsal. I have to thank Mico Martic who has laid the groundwork for this.
Gargelli identifies tactical know-how as the biggest development target.
– In the Finnish Futsal League, the game is not yet as tactical as it is in the big leagues in Europe. This is a great opportunity when I get to work with clubs, coaches and players. It will help the national team to the next level, Gargelli believes.
The energetic coaching style has confused Finnish players
Long-time player of the Finnish futsal team and Akaa Futsal Juhana Jyrkiäinen, 31, also signs the passion mentioned on Gargell’s website. Akaa Futsal, coached by Gargell, is currently third in the league’s regular season after FC Kemi and KaDy from Jyväskylä.
– He really wants to teach us new things about the sport. He has a really big data bank, his long international experience shows. He is able to offer a lot of different solutions for different games depending on the opponent. We watch a lot of videos, and he’s always really well-prepared for clips and themes, Jyrkiäinen describes.
– Sergio is also very encouraging and knows how to take advantage of the players’ strengths. He is also really energetic and has a coaching style. The hands swing and the mouth goes, it sometimes feels a little strange to us Finns.
Steep believes Gargelli is a good choice to continue Martic’s legacy, even though the boots are big.
Some changes will surely be seen, says Jyrkiäinen. Martic, for example, gave players the freedom to decide on special situation patterns.
– At least based on this season, Sergio wants to hold on to even the smallest things and all the strings in his hands. It can certainly be a different matter for a national team when there is a bigger team. I wonder what kind of team is being built around him. The national team has been playing for a long time internationally in very exceptional three fields – will it continue? Jyrkiäinen ponders possible reforms in the national team’s playing.
The Football Association has not yet named another coaching team for the futsal team.
Closer cooperation with football
In addition to the head coach, the Italian pilot was appointed technical director of the futsal.
– Sergio combines many things, such as international experience and a great desire to win. He has experience in building a winning atmosphere. In addition, he has the ability to develop Finnish futsal more widely in terms of club activities and he is able to make a lot of contributions to coach training, the selection is backed by Hannu Tihinen.
Tihinen says that the Finnish Football Association already knew in the autumn that Martic would not continue after the European Championships. There were about twenty names on the Football Association’s “long list” as the new head coach. Eventually, the Football Association interviewed a few people who ended up in Gargell.
Tihinen also emphasizes Gargell’s strength in combining football and futsal. The goal is better cooperation between the species and the development of coaching training so that both species benefit. Co-operation between the sports has also been emphasized in the past by the long-time captain of the national team, the pioneer of the sport Panu Autiowho ended his national team career at the European Championships.