Both the Men's and Women's Futsal teams will compete in the 2026 ACAC Championship at Medicine Hat College from Friday to Sunday. (Image Credit: Medicine Hat College)

By Jesse Gill

Sports

Medicine Hat College hosting 2026 ACAC Futsal Championship starting Friday

Mar 19, 2026 | 10:43 AM

Medicine Hat College is hosting the 2026 ACAC Futsal Championship at Medicine Hat College from Friday through Sunday at the College Snake Pit (Gymnasium).

More than 350 athletes, coaches, and staff will be part of the tournament.

There will be eight games per day, with the first match starting each day at 8 a.m., and the last one at 4:45 p.m.

The medal games will happen on Sunday afternoon, starting at 1 p.m. with the women’s bronze medal game followed by the women’s gold medal game at 2:15 p.m. The men’s finals start at 3:30 p.m. for bronze, and then gold at 4:45 p.m.

The Championship is a knockout stage and a team has to go undefeated to claim gold.

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A loss before the championship game puts teams in competition for bronze.

Athletics events supervisor Vinnie Campos is a former men’s futsal player and assistant coach, and encourages the community to come watch.

“If you don’t know what futsal is, I would suggest that you give it a chance and watch a Rattlers game in the Snake Pit,” Campos said.

“The sport is an electrifying version of soccer, played indoors with smaller nets and a much heavier and smaller ball,” he added.

“The game is fast-paced, played with five-a-side. Everything happens quickly and the game can change in the blink of an eye.”

The Snake Pit holds 250 fans with day passes available for $15 with a $5 discount for staff, alumni, and seniors.

The Eresman Theatre at the College will have a stream of the games on Saturday and Sunday.

“There will be no admission, so all the overflow can go to the theater if we reach the capacity at the gym,” Campos said.

Both of the Rattlers teams automatically qualified for the event as hosts, but would have qualified regardless due to strong records.

Both the men’s and women’s teams had identical 6-1-1 records during the ACAC regular season.

The Rattlers men’s futsal team is the defending champion after winning gold last year in Lloydminster.

The Rattlers Women’s team also won a bronze medal last season.

Damir Omerovic is the head coach for Rattlers men’s and women’s futsal teams.

“It’s definitely exciting to to host and be at home, and after the season that we had, we had very strong records for both teams. So definitely looking forward to it,” Omerovic said.

“I think the biggest thing will be that confidence and everything, and understanding that it is a big stage, and everybody’s coming to compete,” he added.

“We can’t take any opponents lightly and we’ve got to go in and treat every game like it’s a final game and just focus one game at a time and that’s our goal.”

The Rattlers Men enter the tournament as the top team from the south and second seed overall behind the Keyano College Huskies.

Third seed overall is the placement for the Rattlers Women, finishing second in the south during the regular season behind the SAIT Trojans.

Both of the Rattlers teams are made up of players from their soccer program.

“On the men’s side we lost one key player at the beginning of the year due to injury. He a huge part of our team last year, but with some new bodies that have come in this year have made a significant impact on a team,” Omerovic said.

“I would almost say our team is stronger going into this championship than what we had last year. Aleksa Bijelic had an outstanding season this year as the top scorer overall in the league.”

Bjelic had 17 goals and 34 points to lead the ACAC in both those categories. He was also the ACAC South Rookie of the Year. Fellow Rattlers player Tata Mugisha had nine goals to place fourth in the league.

“On the women’s side, we definitely had turnover. Some first-year players coming in have made a huge impact on on a team,” Omerovic said.

“Charlene Indzeoski ended up being one of the top scorers in the league. A rookie of the year for soccer is Nicoly Souza from Brazil. She’s she’s made a huge impact on a team as well,” he added.

“And of course our returning players. Our goalkeeper Abby Lalach was there for the bronze medal game last year, the same as Alivia Rybchinski and Olivia Bender.”

Rattlers Athletics has a long history of success with Futsal, being the sport with the most banners in the gym.

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Women’s teams will also be competing in the 2026 ACAC Futsal Championship at Medicine Hat College on Friday through Sunday. (Image Credit: Medicine Hat College)

There will be 16 teams competing overall with eight in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

The Men’s teams are ranked:

1. Keyano College Huskies (5-1)
2. Medicine Hat College Rattlers (6-1-1)
3. Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder (4-1-1)
4. Ambrose University Lions (5-2-1)
5. NAIT Ooks (4-1-1)
6. Lethbridge Polytechnic Huskies (4-3-1)
7. Lakeland College Rustlers (3-3)
8. The King’s University Eagles (3-3)

The Women’s teams are ranked:

1. SAIT Trojans (7-0-1)
2. Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder (5-1)
3. Medicine Hat College Rattlers (6-1-1)
4. NAIT Ooks (4-1-1)
5. The King’s University Eagles (4-1-1)
6. Keyano College Huskies (4-1-1)
7. Lakeland College Rustlers (2-2-2)
8. Lethbridge Polytechnic Huskies (4-4)

On Thursday teams are arriving on campus for a practice day, and will later gather at Medicine Hat Lodge for the Championship Banquet Awards.

The Medicine Hat Rattlers Women’s Futsal team plays on Friday at 9:15am, followed by the Men’s Futsal team at 11:45am. Their next games will depend on the results of their first matches.

The Men’s Futsal full schedule and results can be found at on the ACAC website and the Women’s Futsal schedule is also online.