WALES’ first professional futsal player will jet out on Friday to join his new team mates after agreeing a deal to play in Indonesia over the summer.

Rico Zulkarnain, who is from Newport, will join the IPC Pelindo II club and becomes the first Welsh player to compete in a professional futsal league.

The club is managed by the Indonesian national futsal team’s coach and Mr Zulkarnain said he was hopeful of having a good season when he arrives to play in Jakarta for three months.

Futsal is a variant of football and was developed in Brazil in the 1930s and 1940s. It is played on a smaller pitch to 11-a-side football and usually indoors. Futsal translated from Portuguese means room football.

The Manchester United fan, who previously played 11-a-side football for Taff’s Well and Chepstow, told the Argus: “It is a whole new ball game out there, excuse the pun. I just want to go out there and do well. I’ve set myself goals to score goals.”

And he will leave mum Bonita and dad Bob at their home in Trinity Place in Pill after playing the sport for just two years. In that time, he has played for the Welsh national futsal team 12 times and scored eight goals. For his current club, Cardiff University, he has played 15 times and scored 43 goals.

In 2013 when he was a member of a street soccer team which took part in a tournament in Denmark, he said he realised he could be a competitive futsal player.

Mr Zulkarnain added: “I saw these players and thought I could do this. I am as good as these, if not better.

“I love football. If I’m not playing, I’m watching; if I’m not watching, I’m coaching.

“Because you play with a weighted ball and on a small court, there’s no hiding. There’s a lot of one-on-one situations and scoring goals from the half way line. There’s a lot of volleys. It is all the best of football.”

Of futsal in Indonesia, he said: “They are ranked 49th in the world and Wales is ranked 84th in the world. [Professional Indonesian players] train every day and they play every other day. There is a lot of media and sponsorship out there.”

He said crowds at the country’s 16 professional clubs can range from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand fustal-mad fans.

And he said he was keen to take on the new opportunities in Indonesia, meeting with an impresario he said was the “Simon Cowell equivalent” about potential sponsorship opportunities next week.

In 2009 he worked for Nike alongside football stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez on a promotional event in London and last Christmas completed a trial with London-based professional futsal club, Baku United.

His SNUB Street Soccer business, which was the first in Wales, will be taking a brief hiatus during his time in Asia. With it, he has entertained people at Welsh Premier League games and at Cardiff City matches at their Cardiff City Stadium.

And his fame is increasing throughout Europe, where futsal is more popular.

He has appeared on the Spanish futsal highlights programme Pista azul and was favourably compared to Wales and Real Madrid football star Gareth Bale regarding their importance to the country's respective teams.

On the comparison, he said: “I don’t know what to say. Obviously Gareth Bale is the most expensive player in the world and I’m just a futsal player from Pill.”

To watch Mr Zulkarnain in action, watch http://bit.ly/1yr8Dbf