Courtesy: UEFA.com


Futsal World Cup qualifying begins

Wednesday 27 February 2008

by Paul Saffer

The European competition for six tickets to the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup begins on Thursday with 37 teams challenging for 12 places in the qualifying play-offs.

Spain hat-trick bid
Among the contenders are Spain, bidding for a third straight World Cup triumph to accompany the second successive UEFA European Futsal Championship they won last November in Porto. They stage Group 3 in Caceres from Friday, against Georgia and Croatia, while two other sides who played in the European finals, Russia and Serbia, are in a group reduced to two teams as France have not travelled to Belgrade. The remaining eight pools have four participants and start tomorrow – when the runners-up in Porto, Italy, welcome Cyprus, Kazakhstan and Andorra to Pescara. In a strong field, Estonia and Montenegro play their first international futsal tournament while England, Bulgaria, Malta and Turkey make World Cup debuts.

Play-off aim
The ten group winners and two best runners-up will progress to the qualifying play-offs, with the six ties to be drawn on 5 March from 14.00 at UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The two-legged fixtures will be held in the weeks beginning 29 March and 12 April, with the six winners advancing to the finals in Brazil from 4 to 19 October.






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