The FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016 may be looming large on the horizon, but work is already underway to lay the foundations for the next edition in 2020.

The bidding process for that tournament recently got underway, with a deadline of 24 March 2016 having been set for FIFA member associations to declare an interest in staging this global showpiece.

After that initial stage in the process, bidding and hosting documents will be sent by FIFA on 8 April to the relevant associations, who will have until 6 May to re-confirm their interest in becoming the tournament’s hosts.

Definitive bids must then be submitted by 5 August, with the winning nation appointed in December 2016 by the new FIFA Council.

The 2020 edition will be the ninth FIFA Futsal World Cup, which began in 1989 in the Netherlands and has since been hosted by Hong Kong, Spain, Guatemala, Chinese Tapei, Brazil and Thailand. In that time, futsal has continued to grow rapidly in popularity around the world, with the 2016 edition featuring over 120 member associations vying to qualify for the main event.