27 UEFA member associations have entered for theEuropean qualifying round of the 2000 FIFA Futsal World Championship, which will be played as five mini-tournaments. Three mini-tournaments will comprise five teams, while the remaining two will consist of six teams. The winners of the five mini-tournaments will qualify for the FIFA World Championship finals along with three qualifiers from Asia (AFC), one from Africa (CAF), three from South America (CONMEBOL), one from Oceania (OFC) and three from North and Central America/Caribbean (CONCACAF). Guatemala, who will stage the tournament, qualify automatically.

The result of the draw, carried out by Angel María Villar Llona, Chairman of the UEFA Futsal Committee, assisted by Gerhard Aigner, UEFA General Secretary, for the qualifying round is as follows:

  • Group 1: Portugal *, Italy, Andorra, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Lithuania.
  • Group 2: Slovenia *, Spain, Ukraine, France, Slovakia, Armenia.  
  • Group 3: Poland *, Russia, Belgium, Latvia, FYR Macedonia.
  • Group 4: Azerbaijan *, Croatia, Czech Rep., Georgia, Greece.
  • Group 5: Finland *, Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Israel.

(*) Denotes mini-tournament hosts.

The five mini-tournaments must be played between 1 January and 29 February 2000, with the exact dates and venues known by the end of November 1999.