Story: Football

Atta Elayyan

Man in purple shirt standing behind sports trophies and holding a microphone.

Goalkeeper Atta Elayyan played 19 matches for the Futsal Whites. He won two national titles with Canterbury United and was New Zealand Football’s futsal player of the year in 2014. Atta also coached the futsal team at Christchurch Boys’ High School, where he had been a student. Of Palestinian descent, Atta was born in Kuwait and spent his early years in Jordan. He is pictured here when he won the title of New Zealand Football National Futsal Player of the Year in 2014. On 15 March 2019, he was fatally shot during the Christchurch terrorist attack.

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by Raghavan Venugopal

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How to cite this page:

Neill Atkinson, Steve Watters and Alida Shanks, 'Football - Futsal', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/47802/atta-elayyan (accessed 1 May 2024)

Story by Neill Atkinson, Steve Watters and Alida Shanks, published 5 Sep 2013, reviewed & revised 7 Jun 2023 with assistance from Alida Shanks