Balanza Futsal · Auckland, New Zealand

Futsal, the Argentine way.

Year-round futsal coaching for kids and teens, from a father and son who grew up on the courts of Buenos Aires. Real technique, real game sense, and plenty of garra.

Balanza Futsal badge

What we believe

Futsal is not football's off-season.
It's a sport.

Why
Balanza

Futsal is one of the most skilful games on the planet. Fast, technical, and won by the smartest player on the court.

Here, it's mostly what you play when football season ends. A fitness filler. A preseason extra.

We think that's exactly why it hasn't grown here yet.

Futsal is a sport in its own right.

It has its own technique, its own tactics and its own training methods. Rotations, set plays, time-outs, rolling subs. A game of decisions, made at speed.

In Brazil and Portugal, kids grow up playing futsal. In Argentina, generations grew up on baby fútbol, and over the last 15 years those same clubs have moved into futsal leagues. Small courts, small teams, thousands of touches. Some move to grass. Many stay. Either way, they arrive with skills you can't learn on a full-size pitch.

We're here to give Kiwi kids that same start, and a real choice: futsal as a path, not just a pastime.

Coincidence?

The countries where kids learn the game on small courts are the same countries that keep winning, on both surfaces.

10/10

FIFA Futsal World Cups won by Brazil, Spain, Argentina and Portugal. Nobody else has ever lifted it.

12/23

Men's FIFA World Cups won by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain, including the 2026 final. More than half of all tournaments ever played.

2016

The year Argentina became futsal world champions, in Colombia. The country we come from.

3x/wk

Sessions a week for a typical futsal kid in Buenos Aires, plus a game at the weekend. Ten months a year, not just in winter.

Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldinho. Neymar. Iniesta. Vinícius. They all grew up playing futsal.

"If I were five, I'd start with futsal."
Lionel Scaloni, Argentina's World Cup-winning coach

Why the name

La Balanza

Every kid who grew up on an Argentine court knows it, and it's the move we teach first. You attack the pass, take a little hop, stop the ball dead with the sole and land with the ball between your feet, having turned 90 degrees to face the goal. Balanza means balance.

Control, balance and facing forward. It's everything futsal is, and everything we want our players to be.

01Attack the pass
02The hop
03Sole stop
04Land facing goal
OPPONENT GOAL PASS 90°

What we do

Programmes

Launching 2027 in Auckland. Every programme is built around one idea: futsal trained as futsal, by people who grew up inside it.

01

Group Sessions

Ages 5-17 · Boys & Girls

Weekly group training by age and level, all year round. Ball mastery, decision making and the fundamentals of the game, coached the way it's coached in Buenos Aires.

  • Small groups, matched by age and level
  • Dedicated girls' programme
  • Term-based, no off-season
Register interest →
02

Balanza Teams

Earn the shirt

Our best players form Balanza teams and compete in Auckland futsal leagues. Train hard, get picked, wear the celeste.

  • Selected from our group sessions
  • Entered in East City and regional leagues
  • Coached on match days
Register interest →
03

1-on-1 Development

All ages

Individual sessions that target exactly what a player needs: first touch, the sole, 1v1 moves, finishing, reading the game. Football players very welcome.

  • Personal development plan
  • Video feedback
  • Single sessions or blocks
Register interest →
04

Goalkeeper School

A first for Auckland

Futsal goalkeeping is its own craft: the split, the block, playing with your feet, and becoming a fifth outfield player. In Auckland, nobody teaches it formally. We will, with a specialist keeper coach.

  • Futsal-specific technique
  • Small groups
  • Distribution and playing out
Register interest →
05

Schools Programme

Primary & Secondary

We bring futsal into your school before school, at lunchtime or after school. It builds a futsal culture and gets kids hooked on the sport early.

  • Before school, lunchtime, after school
  • Curriculum-friendly sessions
  • Pathway into school teams and leagues
Talk to us →
06

Team & Club Coaching

Schools · Clubs

Coaching and clinics for school and club teams that want to play real futsal: structure, rotations, set plays and a game model, not just football played indoors.

  • Season coaching or one-off clinics
  • Coach education for teachers
  • Game model and set plays
Talk to us →

The pathway

Start on the court.
Then choose.

In South America and Iberia, kids learn on small courts first. Then they choose: futsal, football or both. We're building the same pathway here, from the first touch to a league shirt.

1

Foundations

Ages 5-8

Fun first. Thousands of touches, the sole of the foot, balance, and loving the ball.

2

Development

Ages 9-12

Technique under pressure, 1v1, first tactical ideas, and playing as a team.

3

Performance

Ages 13-17

Game model, rotations, set plays, physical preparation and competing to win.

★

Balanza Teams

Earn the shirt

League competition for selected players, and a real futsal path, all year round.

A choice,
not a filler.

Our players can go on to play football, futsal or both. Either way, they'll have the touch, the decision making and the garra that court players carry for life.

How we train

The Balanza way

Four pillars, brought from Argentina and adapted for Kiwi kids.

Técnica
Technique

The sole, the toe-poke, receiving on the half-turn. Thousands of touches every session, in tight spaces, at game speed.

Táctica
Tactics

Rotations, 3-1, 4-0, pressing triggers and set plays. Real futsal ideas, taught at the right age.

Garra
Grit

Intensity, courage and never giving a ball up. The South American edge, and it can be coached.

Juego
Play

Game-based learning. Players solve real problems, make decisions and love coming back.

Who we are

Father & son.
Made in Argentina.

Two generations, one obsession. Both of us learned the game on the courts of Buenos Aires.

Andy with his team#10 · Head Coach

Andy Magliola

Head Coach · Co-founder

Andy is a baller. He's the player you want on your team, and the one you don't want to face. Fierce, technical, and he reads the game better than anyone on the court.

He started at six at Club Pinocho in Buenos Aires, the most decorated club in Argentine futsal, and never stopped. Now 18, he has won the National Futsal Superleague, NZ's top competition, with Auckland City.

He coaches the Selwyn College Junior Boys, and he trains them the way he was trained.

Fierce. Technical. Smart.
Pablo watching the game from the sidelineDirector · Tactics

Pablo Magliola

Director · Co-founder

Pablo is the coach who sees the whole court. Calm on the bench, relentless about the details, and always three passes ahead of the play.

He found futsal through Andy, fell for it straight away and was soon playing competitive adult leagues himself. In New Zealand he turned that passion into coaching, earning a qualification under a recognised Argentine coach.

He leads the Selwyn College Senior Boys, and builds teams that know exactly what they're doing and why.

Sees the game before it happens.

Great talent.
No pathway.
So we're building one.

When we got to New Zealand, we both saw the same thing, Andy as a player and Pablo from the bench. Kids with real talent and real hunger, and a sport nobody was developing properly.

No year-round training. No futsal-specific coaching. No path from the first touch to the top.

So we set out to change that. Balanza is the club we wish had been here when we arrived.

Balanza TV

Watch. Learn.
Repeat.

Tutorials, drills, game clips and the moves that make futsal beautiful. Free, every week, on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

2027 intake

Be part of
the first
generation.

We're opening in 2027 with limited spots. Register your interest and you'll be first to hear about trial sessions, venues and timetables. No commitment.

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