At the beginning of next year, UEFA Futsal EURO 2022 will be organized in the Netherlands. In the run-up to this tournament, presenter Mounir Boualin enters Futsal Fanatics visiting familiar faces with a great love for futsal. In the third episode, he visits Reginio Resida, better known as ‘Rarko’, who has been enjoying success on YouTube for a while. Rarko mainly makes videos, but is also a creditable futsal player. The quick dribbler even made it to three international matches in the Dutch Juniors.
Like many other futsal players, Rarko first started on the field. Due to his short height, he decided, at the insistence of his sister, to opt for futsal when he was fifteen. The small attacker was soon picked up by top club TPP Rotterdam (now Feyenoord Futsal) and went through the youth academy there. He even made it to the Juniors and moved to competitor Groene Ster from Vlissingen in 2018. After a serious Achilles tendon injury, Feyenoord Futsal brought him back to the old nest in 2020.
The most memorable event in his career was an international match for the Dutch Juniors in 2015. “I was away with the Juniors for four days, to Poland. I only ate peanut butter. I didn’t trust that food there, I missed the food my grandma made. We also got clothes, I thought I could keep them. I could already see myself in that track jacket at home. At the end of the day we still had to hand it in, but I did not return the socks. Sorry KNVB.”
Rarko did not make it to the ‘big’ the Dutch yet, although he attributes this to the lack of opportunities: “Max (Tjaden, red) is a good national coach. But I’ll tell you honestly, he can give me an international match. Can I take a nice picture, sing the Wilhelmus and wear the real shirt. Although I should probably hand it in at the end of the day too, haha!”
Rarko is especially enthusiastic about the current Dutch futsal team: “I have a lot of respect for those guys. They often get a lot of criticism from the people at home, but I would say to them: ‘Just stand there’. Jamal el Ghannouti, look how old he is (38, ed). That man is still fighting. Soufian Charraoui is really the new Ronaldo, he has eight lungs and a fantastic shot. And Karim Mossaoui is a bit the Hakim Ziyech of futsal. I really see them win the European Championship.”
Mounir Boualin is a freelance football vlogger, video journalist and presenter. For Voetbalzone he makes interviews about matches.