Early tournaments The FAI Futsal Cup was originally awarded to the winners of the
Eircom U21 Futsal League, a tournament featuring futsal teams attached to clubs playing in the
League of Ireland U21 Division. The competition was officially launched at
Dublin City University on 13 February 2007 with a reception attended by, among others,
Packie Bonner. Eights clubs from the U21 Division, including
Bohemians,
Bray Wanderers,
Drogheda United,
Dundalk,
Monaghan United,
Shamrock Rovers,
St Patrick's Athletic and
UCD entered the inaugural tournament. These eight clubs first played in a league stage featuring a single round of games. The top four from this stage – UCD, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Bray Wanderers – then qualified for a final four tournament played at the
National Basketball Arena. In the final, with a team coached by
Dave Campbell and featuring
Ciarán Kilduff and
Dane Massey, Shamrock Rovers defeated UCD 4–2. St Patrick's Athletic won the second tournament in 2008 and
Cork City, with a team featuring
Kevin Long, were winners in 2009. Long was one of several future
Republic of Ireland internationals who featured in the early tournaments. Others included
David Meyler (Cork City),
Séamus Coleman (
Sligo Rovers) and
James McClean (
Derry City). Former Republic of Ireland international,
Gary Kelly, played for
Drogheda United in the 2008 tournament. Other players to feature included
Gary McCabe and
Jay O'Shea, both of whom played for Bray Wanderers.
Format As the number of entrants increased the format of the tournament changed. Fourteen clubs entered the 2009 competition and clubs initially played in three divisions – a Leinster Division, a Munster Division and a North-West Division. In 2010 the tournament was expanded to include clubs from the
Emerald Futsal League in addition to futsal teams associated with
League of Ireland clubs. Junior clubs and representative teams of junior leagues were also invited to participate, resulting in a record entry of 32 teams. The 2010 format saw four preliminary qualifying tournaments – one per
province – been staged throughout the country.
Eden era Playing under various names including, Sporting Fingal EID, EID Futsal and Eden College,
Eden Futsal Club won the FAI Futsal Cup five times in a row between 2010 and 2014.
Blue Magic After finishing as runners up in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Blue Magic won the FAI Futsal Cup for the first time in 2015 and then retained the cup in 2016. ==Finals==