Futsal contenders lining up

Courtesy: www.uefa.com

The draw for the 2004/05 UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary and first qualifying rounds takes place on Thursday with 33 clubs aiming to become Europe's top side.

Spanish strength
Boomerang Interviú FS are the holders, having defeated Portuguese side SL Benfica 7-5 on aggregate in the 2003/04 final in May. In-form Boomerang have just retained their domestic title, allowing Spanish runners-up El Pozo Murcia Turistica FS to take part while they enter as reigning champions.

English hosts
UEFA has divided the draw, which start at 14.00CET, into two parts, with a preliminary round preceding the first qualifying round. The first stage will be played in the form of one mini-tournament hosted by Sheffield Hallam from England, and also including Tirana from Albania and MAG Varna from Bulgaria. It will be held on 8-14 September.

Sporting chance
The winner and runner-up from this round-robin section will join the 30 other sides in the first qualifying round, which will see the competitors divided into eight groups of four. These will include Boomerang, perennial challengers MNK Split from Croatia and the 2002 and 2003 runners-up Action 21 Charleroi from Belgium. The 2004 beaten finalists SL Benfica did not qualify this time around leaving Sporting Clube de Portugal to fly the flag for Portugal. The first qualifying round will be played on 4-10 October.

UEFA Futsal Cup

2004/05 participants
Country Club
ESP* Boomerang Interviú FS
ALB Tirana
AND FS Cap del Carrer
ARM tbc
AZE Turan Air Baku
BLS Dorozhnik Minsk
BEL Action 21 Charleroi
BHZ KMN Karaka Mostar
BUL MAG Varna
CRO MNK Split
CYP AGBU Ararat Nicosia
CZE Era Pack Chrudim
ENG Sheffield Hallam
ESP El Pozo Murcia Turistica FS
FIN Ilves FS
GEO Iberia 2003
HUN Rubeola FC Csömör
ITA Arzignano Grifo C/5
ISR tbc
KZK Kairat Almaty
LAT Bugroff Riga
LIT FK Inkaras Kaunas
MKD KMF Skopje Tandem Go
MOL Camelot Chisinau
NED FC Marlène
POL Bastual Kraków
POR Sporting Clube de Portugal
ROM FC Bodu Bucuresti
RUS MFC Dinamo Moscow
SLO KMN Svea Lesna Litija
SMN Marbo Beograd
SVK 1. SC INCAR Nitra
UKR Shakhtar Donetsk