Futsal is one of the sports favored by the Indonesian people. This game, which is similar to football, is played by children to adults. The level of play ranges from amateur, student class, to professional class. Futsal management in Indonesia can be said to be at a professional level so that there are tiered competitions that can be followed by futsal teams in Indonesia from various classes. Starting from the student and college class, there are competitions and leagues that are routinely held, then for the professional class it has been arranged by the competition organizers who also routinely hold them every year. For the National Team level, there is already a training camp that is included in various competitions between countries.
Futsal in Indonesia can be said to continue to develop. One of the professional futsal teams in Indonesia is Black Steel FC. This team comes from Manokwari, Papua. The achievements that have been recorded are becoming champions in the Indonesian Professional Futsal League three times and even in 2020, Black Steel FC became champions without being defeated once or invincible. The best achievement ever achieved was when they became champions in the 2023 AFF Futsal Club event, a competition participated by the best teams in South East Asia. Throughout history, only three futsal teams from Indonesia have ever become champions at the Southeast Asian level. Black Steel FC became the third team after Bintang Timur Surabaya and IPC Pelindo who had previously won the AFF Futsal Club title.
The brilliant achievements that Black Steel FC managed to achieve were the result of the hard work of all parties involved. Starting from the management, sponsors, coaches, and also talented players who were continuously produced from the training process. Many of the star players who play at Black Steel FC are academy graduates and are people from Papua. One of them is Ardiansyah Runtuboy who is still the core player of the Indonesian National Team.
Black Steel FC does not only rely on local players and coaches in the process of winning the title. Playing in competitions between clubs with opponents from different countries certainly requires experience at a higher level. Therefore, coaches and players from abroad were also brought in to defend Black Steel FC. The coach who successfully brought this team to become the champion in South East Asia is Rakhpol Sainetngam from Thailand. The combination of local and foreign players is one of the keys to Black Steel FC’s success in winning the title. Foreign players and coaches are needed to add strength and also provide experience for local players to be able to reach a higher level of play and win the title in the next competition.