Courtesy: FIFA.COM

Chinese Taipei 2004 dates confirmed


(FIFA.com) 21 Apr 2004


The official dates for the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship have been finalised. The tournament will run from 21 November to 5 December 2004 in two venues and pit 16 of the planet’s top powers against one another in a hunt for the coveted global crown.
The five-a-side game’s fifth FIFA World Championship will be hard-pressed to match the excitement and verve of the previous competition held in Guatemala four years ago. In the fourth-ever World Futsal finals Spain ended Brazil’s greedy domination of the indoor game with a fine run of form that brought to an end the Auriverde’s scintillating streak of three world titles on the trot.

The Brazilians won every FIFA Futsal World Championship prior to Guatemala 2000, crowned champions at the inaugural event in the Netherlands in 1989, in Hong Kong three years later and at Spain 1996.

With the tournament’s return to Asia, Brazil will surely be looking to right their ship and reassert their dominance on the global Futsal scene. They will join Argentina and Paraguay as South American representatives in the 16-team field. Defending champions and Europe’s top futsal power Spain will also make their way back to the big stage along with Iberian neighbours Portugal and other Old Continental hopefuls Italy, Czech Republic and Ukraine.

Chinese Taipei qualify automatically as hosts and will be joined by three additional Asian contenders following the final AFC qualifying competition currently underway in Macao. Continental kings Iran, who reached the semi-finals at Hong Kong 1992, are considered fast favourites for qualification and will be fancied to win their sixth Asian crown.

The North, Central and the Caribbean Zone’s two representatives will be decided in late July and early August in Costa Rica, while Africa’s lone side will be decided in Egypt from 15 – 22 June 2004. Oceania will also receive only one berth – to be decided between 22 and 29 July in Australia.