‘A really special feeling’ – Marianna Tabain on being named co-captain of national futsal team

As one of the co-captains for the Australian Women’s National Futsal Team, Marianna Tabain feels a little bit of pressure being in a leadership role for the side.

The team has existed for just over six months, with the first squad being named in December of 2024, only a couple of weeks from the Asian Cup qualification tournament, with Australia going on to win its group undefeated.

Tabain says that the pressure of being co-captain of the squad is a good thing.

“I’ve been part of many, many teams and I’ve always been one of the younger players. So at this point being one of the older players I think that you feel that pressure to step up as a co-captain and to help the team as much as you can on and off the court,” she said.

Tabain also said that she felt an enormous amount of happiness when she was asked to be part of the leadership group.

“As a player, you aspire to do great things and to co-captain your national side, there’s nothing better than that feeling of being told.

“Being the first women’s futsal team in yellow and green, it’s been a really special feeling and I think it’s something that I’ll hold forever close to my heart. It’s a nice feeling.”

The side is currently in the middle of its group stage at the Futsal Asian Cup, and are facing a must-win game against Chinese Taipei to advance as one of the best third-placed teams, with goal difference also working against Australia.

Tabain said that if the side can nail down the components that the coaches have put forward in their training session before the game, they will be every chance of advancing to the knock-out stages, while also noting there is a huge responsibility on the squad to step up and deliver.

The preparation for the Asian Cup was not easy for the side, as they only had one training camp together following the qualifiers before departing for China, where they played a friendly not long after arriving against the Philippines, before jumping into their opening game against the host nation China.

Tabain said that it was hard to have all that time away from the team, but they are working on getting the cohesion again as a team.

“If we can nail that, the results become a little bit easier. That will be the focus for the Chinese Taipei game and if we can gel on the court [against them] then we give ourselves every chance to win the game,” she said.

As a former Perth Glory and Melbourne City player, Tabain had a storied career in what was then known as the W-League, playing with the likes of a Sam Kerr, and being part of the 2015/16 Melbourne City invincible squad, where the side won all 14 games it played across the regular season and finals series.

She was also just the second player to play 100 games in the competition behind Clare Polkinghorne, who achieved the feat a week earlier, with Tabain finishing on 128 appearances in the league.

Reflecting on her Melbourne City experience, she said it was an incredible squad to be part of, and the memories from that time were really special for her as a player, saying that her football there was the best she’s ever played.

It also puts her in a good position to compare the difference between playing 11v11 outdoor and 5v5 on a futsal court, and how the skills developed in futsal translate to the 11v11 game.

“I grew up playing in the streets with the boys and I was always trying to play futsal socially and I think the biggest difference for me personally is the decision making on the court has to be much, much quicker than when you’re playing soccer,” Tabain said.

“I think you can get away with being a little bit slower to react with your decisions, whereas with futsal if you’re a little bit slower with your decisions then you get punished quite quickly.

“[In futsal], there’s also not as much space to operate in and that obviously makes it harder too.”

There are a number of players in the A-League Women competition who have futsal backgrounds, and one player that Tabain enjoys watching who does is Rhianna Pollicina.

“I think a lot of the runs that she makes are quite similar to the runs that you would make on a futsal court.

“I think she gets into positions where sometimes she’s not found because maybe that other player doesn’t play futsal, so I think she gets to some really neat areas of the pitch and I think that her futsal background enables her to find those positions quite easily. She’s a very smart player.”

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Looking ahead to the future of futsal in Australia and its growth, Tabain noted the growth of the sport still has a long way to go in Australia, but that taking the right steps with junior development will help it grow.

“There’s been a lot of footballers that have come from a futsal background. If we can put funding into the junior programmes and get some really quality coaches on board and give those players an opportunity to learn futsal earlier, I think it will not only help players playing futsal, but to help the players that then branch off into football,” she said.

“Futsal in Australia still has a long way to go, but if we can take the right steps I think we can definitely be a country that competes for big competitions in the future.

“I think we’ve got the players there. We just have to, I guess, coach them correctly and give them a pathway to be able to succeed in the sport.

“If you look at other countries, they are doing it. So I think if we can back the sport and we can do the right things for the players and all of that, I think that we can definitely be a country that does well in the future and I think that’s the key to success really.”