The UEFA qualifying competition for the FIFA Futsal World Cup
2008 opens on 28 February with the meeting between Belgium and
Montenegro in Buzau, where Belarus join host nation and European
championship participants Romania to complete the Group 5 line-up.
In Group 3, world and European champions Spain are clear
favourites at home to Croatia and Georgia. Anything less than
serene progress for the all-conquering Iberians would rate as a
major surprise.
FIFA World Cup runners-up and European championship finalists
Italy are also at home, welcoming Group 8 opponents Cyprus, Andorra
and Kazakhstan to Pescara.
Russia, third at the European championships, complete the
trio of the continent's strongest teams, although the east
Europeans are likely to have a far from easy time of it in Group 1,
where they take on France and European championship participants
Serbia. The Serbs will not have forgotten their 5-3 defeat at the
continental showdown and will see the latest match-up as an ideal
chance for revenge.
In Group 4, England meet Hungary, FYR Macedonia and Poland.
Two of the four teams have already appeared at a FIFA Futsal World
Cup finals: Hungary contested the first global event in the
Netherlands in 1989, with the Poles present at the 1992 edition in
Hong Kong.
Six places at the finals are on offer to the 38 hopefuls. The
group winners and the two best runners-up progress to a play-off
round from 29 March to 16 April to determine UEFA's
representatives.
The FIFA Futsal World Cup 2008 takes place in Brazil next
October. The finals feature a starting field of 20 for the first
time, distributed among the confederations as follows: AFC: 4, CAF:
2, CONCACAF: 3, CONMEBOL: 3 plus the host nation, OFC: 1, UEFA: 6.
The Final Draw takes place on 6 July in Brasilia.
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