Luke Bell, David Peregrina, and Keagan Monnier won the World Futsal Championship for their age group in Orlando during the summer, representing Ballistic United Futsal Club. 

What is futsal?

Futsal is a five-a-side hardcourt soccer game with a relatively small court. It often requires different skills compared to soccer, focusing more on technique and creativity than on the physicality of soccer. 

“The difference between futsal and soccer is futsal is a lot faster and you play on a smaller court, so there are a lot more tactics, so you need to be mentally prepared all the time,” said Futsal World Cup winner from Ballistic United David Peregrina (‘24).  

Winning the Futsal World Championships

The Ballistic United team had to travel to Orlando, Florida for five days to play ten matches against clubs from all across the United States in the National and World Championships. 

“We played against a lot of teams from New York, Chicago, and Oklahoma. We faced Chicago as our toughest game in the final, which we ended up winning 4-0,” said Peregrina. 

The team worked for many years to make it to the top stage, dominating the competition. The Ballistic United Futsal team did not lose any matches, winning all ten to bring home the trophy. 

“It was big because I know my coach worked really hard to make an impact for kids and help us play futsal and achieve our dreams. From starting off as a small team and making his way up to winning world futsal champion, it is pretty sick,” said Peregrina. 

Many athletes and students in Pleasanton are impressed by this feat. Futsal players and all athletes alike are inspired by the achievement and seeing American youth competing on the world stage of futsal. 

“It’s an amazing accomplishment everyone in Pleasanton should be proud of. I am excited to see soccer growing and gaining traction in America to the point where the country can compete with powerhouses,” said soccer player Saksham Nirvan (‘23). 

Moving forward

The future looks bright for David and his teammates for pursuing more glory in futsal. The next World tournament will be held in Spain in the winter this year, and Ballistic United will seek to retain their title. 

“I think how things are going right now, I have a lot of chances to do something in the future with futsal. We are going to Spain again for a world cup, depending on how that goes, we will see what the future looks like,” said Peregrina. 

However, all of this requires much practice and concentration on the parts of the players and team every time they show up on the pitch. Intense training was required to win the title and now they must concentrate harder now to retain their title in the future. 

“We practiced one to two times a week, and all the training sessions were really intense. It showed that we really cared because we were there through summer, Thanksgiving, and Christmas,” said Peregrina. 

Given the intensity and performances of all the players and coaches from Ballistic United, many are hopeful of the rise of futsal around Amador as well as in America. 

“I expect the club to attract more talent from the Bay Area and to have a repeat of their dominant performance in the next world cup in Spain,” said Nirvan.