New boost for BUT football and futsal. Teams want to join the university league.

Brno University of Technology has new football and futsal representations. Under the leadership of new coach Dominik Bokůvka, students from across all faculties are currently preparing for qualification for the university leagues, playing matches and sharing experiences from different sporting environments. Aside from promotion to the league, the teams' plan is to play friendlies with other universities to reawaken the spirit of football and futsal at BUT and, in time, to revive the Fotbalový souboj univerzit (University Football Fight).

Football and futsal at BUT

While hockey, volleyball, and basketball at BUT are enjoying a period of success and interest from the student community, football and futsal seem to have been dormant in recent years. The last major football event was the 2016 Fotbalový souboj univerzit, in which the supposedly weaker BUT defeated MUNI 2:1 in front of four thousand spectators. The trophy from the thrilling match, which was refereed by then ace player of FC Zbrojovka Brno Petr Švancara, still stands in a place of honor at the BUT Sports Activity Center (CESA), but the BUT team's boots have remained unworn ever since. The new BUT football and futsal coach, Dominik Bokůvka, wants to change that and has started training his teams on the Pod Palackého vrchem grounds in September.

Dominik came to BUT from the Faculty of Sports Studies at Masaryk University (FSpS), where he had been involved in football for a long time. "There was no one at BUT who focused specifically on football and futsal and had experience in these university competitions, but that changed with my arrival," he says. It seemed natural to him to establish representative teams – according to him, CESA perceives sport at BUT as a service for students, especially when there is genuine interest in it. "I recently asked students who play football if they wanted to cancel classes for the last two weeks of the semester, since it's freezing outside. They said they wanted to continue. And that's exactly what makes us happy – when students want to play sports," he describes enthusiastically.

A new generation of BUT players

He started forming teams just before the start of the winter semester, and within a few days, more than 170 applicants had responded to the call. He invited 80 students to the first training sessions, from which he eventually selected 38 football players and 29 futsal players. “Of these, twenty to twenty-five players now regularly attend futsal and around thirty attend football, which is excellent for a university,” Dominik praises. In addition to Czechs and Slovaks, the teams also include several foreign students, who add an interesting dimension to the groups. "For example, I have an Italian player in futsal and two goalkeepers from Germany and Spain in football."

The teams meet once a week at the Pod Palackého vrchem complex, and the training sessions are mainly about playing together and bonding. "We touch lightly on tactics, but at this early stage, the meetings are mostly about the game, because that's where everything is, from ball handling and control to shooting, communication, and teamwork," explains Dominik, adding that it is important for the players to get to know each other. "For example, Michal needs to know that Patrik is more right-handed and moves in that direction, and that someone else is more of a playmaker, while another is strong in one-on-one situations and will dribble, while yet another would never dribble in a million years."

Two sports, one university experience

Communication and teamwork are key to both football and futsal. However, although both sports are based on the same principles, there are fundamental differences between them. football is played outdoors on a large grass field with eleven players, while futsal takes place indoors on a smaller field with five players on each side. "There's also a different ball, which not everyone knows," Dominik points out. He says the sports also differ in rhythm, speed, and the way they force players to think. About a quarter of all his students play on both football and futsal teams, with most of them leaning toward one of the sports, so the differences in habits are immediately apparent. "Passing, personal defense, playmaking, movement on the field—futsal and football players do it completely differently. When I have both types of players on the futsal team, you can see the difference in their teamwork right away," he adds.

Among the players who play for both teams are forward Patrik Mareček from the Faculty of Business and midfielder Samuel Durec from the Faculty of Information Technology, who both took part in the promotional photo shoot. Patrik studies management informatics, which he likes because of its combination of economics and IT, and after graduation he would like to find a job in this field in northern Europe. He has experience in both sports – futsal mainly from amateur tournaments with friends, where he plays for The Pigs. He says futsal is faster and more contact-oriented, with more goals. “Unfortunately, it is not as widespread as football, mainly due to conditions. Every village has a football field, but you can’t find a hall everywhere,” concludes Patrik.

Samuel studies computer science, which he was already interested in during high school, and would like to become a software coder. He also has experience in both sports – in football, he played for Spartak Myjava in the second youth league in Slovakia, where he also tried out several training sessions with the main team before moving to a nearby village on loan. He also played futsal at BUT and this year decided to wear the university's red and blue kit for football as well.

Coaching with an emphasis on freedom and independence

Dominik himself has a background primarily in football, which he has been playing since the age of six. After entering university, he logically turned to studying Coaching with a focus on football and began working outside the university environment, currently with the B team of 1st SK Prostějov, which plays in the fifth league of the Olomouc Region Men's Regional Championship. He plays as a defender or midfielder and also acts as a playing coach. "I even have several players on the university team who play against me at the club level," he points out with a smile.

Dominik decided to work at BUT thanks to his positive experience during interviews. "I really liked CESA's approach, their behavior, and how they perceived me as a person and at the same time as a professionally educated individual," he describes. Another big plus was the sports facilities. "At MUNI, we couldn't play on our own premises, whereas at BUT, everything is available directly at the university. I'm looking forward to being able to organize home games much more easily and independently of renting other pitches," Dominik praises.

What Dominik enjoys most about working with students is their potential and energy. "Their different personalities, openness, and trust that I can pass on something that will help them develop really motivate me," he says. As a coach, he focuses not only on quality training, but also on team culture and player freedom. "I definitely want our team to represent the university not only through their play, but also through their behavior. At the same time, it's important to me to have a good group of guys and a camaraderie that extends beyond the field. When it comes to football, I like an active style," he adds. Freedom and independence are also key for him. "In some training exercises, I don't dictate every step; I let the players solve the situation themselves—both in terms of play and in terms of movement and positioning. They are university students, so I give them space to discover the right solutions themselves."

In addition to coaching Dominik also has experience in academic research. He uses his doctorate from FSpS, in which he focused on the relationship between strength and speed abilities in football players, in his work with players. "I'd be stupid not to use it. The findings from the research are reflected in fitness and specific football training, as well as psychological and pedagogical approaches. It's about choosing what makes sense to me personally and applying it on the field," explains Dominik. He also plans to devote himself to research at BUT, where he will also participate in teaching the Sports Technology program.

In addition to working with university teams, he follows professional football, just like his students. While Samuel has been a Borussia Dortmund fan since childhood and enjoys watching Messi and Neymar, and Patrik supports Liverpool and likes players such as Florian Wirtz and Kevin de Bruyne, Dominik supports the current Premier League favorite. "I've been a fan of Arsenal since Henry's time. It's been a tough road, but things are looking very good now," he says happily.

The university league as the main goal

Dominik's clear goal is to get into football and futsal university leagues. They were established in 2021 with the aim of enabling students to play sports regularly, represent their university, and build a team community. The competitions take the form of a spring group stage and autumn playoffs, with dozens of teams participating each year. The league is balanced in both sports, and the favorites cannot be clearly determined in advance, partly because university teams change very quickly due to the natural fluctuation of students.

In his opinion, BUT has a chance to make it into the leagues – the level of players in both teams is high. "I was very pleasantly surprised. I didn't want to have exaggerated expectations, so as not to be disappointed or doubt whether to even try for the league. But now I'm convinced that if we advance, we definitely won't get lost." However, the competitions are currently full, and new teams can only get in by competing against the last team in the table or other interested teams. "We have to get through the qualifiers," Dominik emphasizes. "We will be playing a qualifying football match against Anglo-American University in Prague in December. As for futsal, the situation is not yet clear, but the qualifying matches will probably take place after the New Year."

In addition to the main competition with teams, he is also planning other matches, including friendly matches with local universities – the BUT futsal team will challenge the University of Defence to a friendly match in early December to strengthen relations. Dominik also hopes that during his time at BUT, he will see the return of the Fotbalový souboj univerzit, where he could measure the strength of his new players against his alma mater.

More sports to strengthen university spirit

According to Dominik, university sports teams and sports in general greatly enrich student life. "Long-lasting friendships can be formed at universities, and I believe that sports play a big role in this. Personally, I have lifelong friends from FSpS – from my studies, not just from football. But that friendship didn't start in the classroom, it was either in the gym, or when we went to gymnastics training together in the evenings, or when we were in classes together, and so on." However, he believes that even non-athletic students can get join in by supporting the teams at matches and thus strengthening the university spirit. "The players will be happy to have their classmates in the audience, and vice versa," he says.

He would like his teams to eventually attract as many fans on campus as the BUT hockey team does today. He believes that football and futsal offer something a little different from hockey. "It's more personal. You can see the players' faces, so their emotions are immediately readable. And the environment, especially in football, is constantly changing—one day it's 30 degrees, the next it's raining or 5 degrees, so the game is always a little different, which can be more interesting for the spectators. And in both sports, the lower limbs are used primarily, which is unique. What else can you do with your feet besides walking?" he concludes with a smile.