Courtesy: UEFA.com

Futsal hopefuls ready for draw

Wednesday, 27 September 2006

A record 36 nations have entered the 2007 UEFA European Futsal Championship - and the contenders hoping to claim one of the seven available berths alongside the hosts in Portugal next November will discover their fate when the draw takes place at 13.30CET on Monday in Nyon.

Qualifying round
There are two stages to the qualifying process. The preliminary round involves 12 teams, including debutants Turkey and Malta. That dozen are split into four seeding groups, and will be drawn from five pots, with the fifth containing the designated mini-tournament hosts Finland (Helsinki), Romania (Deva) and Malta (Paola). Each of the three pools of four will contain one team from each seeding group, and will be played between 15 and 21 January 2007.

Big guns enter
The three group winners and two best runners-up will then progress to the preliminary round, when the other 23 hopefuls including holders Spain enter. This time there will be seven pools of four, with again a quartet of seeding groups and a fifth pot containing the septet of hosts - Italy (Martina Franca), Spain (Pinto, Madrid), the Netherlands (Eindhoven), Slovenia (Maribor), Croatia (Zagreb), Hungary (Budapest) and Andorra (Andorra la Vella). Played between 18 and 24 February, the groups will produce seven winners to join the hosts in Porto from 16-25 November next year in the fifth final tournament.

2007 UEFA European Futsal Championship qualifying draw

Qualifying round (28 teams) - hosts in bold

Pot - Seeding group -> Nation
5 - 1 -> Italy
5 - 1 -> Spain (holders)
1 - 1 -> Ukraine
1 - 1 -> Russia
1 - 1 -> Czech Republic
5 - 1 -> Netherlands
5 - 1 -> Slovenia
5 - 2 -> Croatia
5 - 2 -> Hungary
2 - 2 -> Belgium
2 - 2 -> Poland
2 - 2 -> Serbia
2 - 2 -> Belarus
5 - 2 -> Andorra
3 - 3 -> Slovakia
3 - 3 -> Azerbaijan
3 - 3 -> Moldova
3 - 3 -> Bosnia-Herzegovina
3 - 3 -> Greece
3 - 3 -> France
3 - 3 -> F.Y.R. Macedonia
4 - 4 -> Israel
4 - 4 -> Lithuania
4 - 4 -> Winner preliminary round Group A
4 - 4 -> Winner preliminary round Group B
4 - 4 -> Winner preliminary round Group C
4 - 4 -> Preliminary round best runner-up 1
4 - 4 -> Preliminary round best runner-up 2

Preliminary round (12 teams) - hosts in bold

Pot - Seeding group -> Nation
6 - 1 -> Latvia
10 - 1 -> Finland
6 - 1 -> Georgia
10 - 2 -> Romania
7 - 2 -> Cyprus
7 - 2 -> Albania
8 - 3 -> Armenia
8 - 3 -> Kazakhstan
8 - 3 -> England
9 - 4 -> Bulgaria
10 - 4 -> Malta
9 - 4 -> Turkey



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com