Aim of this study was to find out if there is an association between the different stages and factors in the career paths of Finnish futsal players. The study examined the career paths of Finnish futsal players from the perspectives of futsal career milestones, place of residence, and sport multidisciplinary. No previous research on the career paths of Finnish futsal players is available and internationally, research on futsal players' career paths is scarce. The information obtained from the research provides an insight into the kind of milestones Finnish futsal play-ers have built their careers from.

Sample of our research consisted of 131 Finnish male futsal players. Of these, 13 had played at the highest level in the Finnish futsal national team, 85 in the Futsal League, 31 in Futsal League One and two players answered "other" as the highest level. Research data was collect-ed with web survey in autumn 2022 and was analysed with SPSS statistics program. Variables were analysed using standard deviations, means, cross tabulation, one-way analysis of vari-ance and Pearson's correlation coefficient.

The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the career milestones of players who played at the highest level in the Finnish Futsal National Team, Fut-sal League and Futsal League One. When the connection between career milestones and year of birth was examined, a relationship was found for each breakpoint. The later a player was born, the younger he was at the milestones examined in the study. When comparing the level of success in futsal to the highest level where the player played football, it was found that players who had played in the Finnish futsal national team also had played football at a higher level than players who had played in the Futsal League or Futsal League One. Players who had played in the Futsal League have played football at a higher average level than players who have played in Futsal League One. Other organized or unorganized sport in youth were not found to be associated with futsal success in adulthood. The results showed that as age increases, the number of other organized sports decreases. For national team players and Fut-sal League players, the number of unorganized other sports increased until the age of 15, after which the number decreased again. For Futsal League One players, the number of unor-ganized sports remained the same from ages 6 to 12, after which the number increased and then decreased again from age 15 onwards. The results also showed that futsal players felt that team ball games in particular had contributed to their futsal careers. When looking at where futsal players lived in their youth, it was found that the majority of futsal players lived in Pirkanmaa. There were also significant differences between regions in terms of the age at which futsal was played.

Results of our study shows that players who were born later, reached career milestones earlier than players who were born earlier. It can also be concluded that the more successful futsal players seem to differ in their earlier football background, based on the results of the study.