Five candidates for FIFA Futsal World Championship 2004

Zürich, 29 October 2002 - On 28 October 2002, FIFA Headquarters in Zurich played host to this year’s first meeting of the FIFA Futsal Committee, under the chairmanship of Ricardo Teixeira Terra (Brazil). The members were informed that five national associations had submitted bids to host the fifth FIFA Futsal World Championship, scheduled for 2004. The list of candidates, in the order in which FIFA received the bids, is: Bahrain, Thailand, Egypt, Paraguay and Iran. These national associations now have until 30 November 2002 to either confirm or withdraw their bids, and until 20 December 2002 to submit the bid documentation and the signed Organisation Association Agreement (OAA) to FIFA. The Futsal Committee will then nominate a national association and submit its proposal to the Executive Committee, which will reach a final decision regarding the host nation in the early months of 2003.

The previous four FIFA Futsal World Championships have been held in the Netherlands (1989), Hong Kong (1992), Spain (1996), and Guatemala (2000). Brazil won the first three tournaments, with Spain claiming the title in 2000.

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter was also present at the meeting and declared that it was a positive sign that five national associations had applied to host the tournament. “This is concrete proof that Futsal is becoming ever more popular and attractive,” commented Blatter. “In recent years, this sport has made great progress across the board, and that delights me.”

With a view to preparing the FIFA member national associations for their qualifying tournaments, the Development Division of world football’s governing body has started work on an ambitious project to develop training material for Futsal coaches and referees. Draft copies of this training material were presented to the committee members, with the project due to be completed in early 2003.

The next FIFA Futsal World Championship will also be a reflection of FIFA’s efforts to unite the Futsal family, as the Futsal regulations in a number of national associations still differ. FIFA’s Futsal experts will now carefully revise these regulations and their application guidelines, particularly for countries in which the necessary amendments have not yet been completed.

FIFA also intends to ask the national associations to complete a survey that will not only record the exact number of countries in which Futsal is played, but also the number of active players. This survey will then give further weight to calls for Futsal to be included in the 2008 Olympic Games in Peking.