Thursday, 1 September 2016
Germany and Kosovo will enter their first UEFA Futsal EURO among a record 48 nations hoping to lift the trophy at Slovenia 2018.
While hosts Slovenia are assured of a place in the finals from 30 January–11 February 2018 at Arena Stožice, Ljubljana, the other 47 countries go into the qualifying draw at UEFA headquarters in Nyon on 12 October, streamed live on UEFA.com. The 21 teams with the highest coefficients*, including holders Spain, receive a bye to the main round, with the other 26 hopefuls starting in the preliminary round.
*The final coefficient list will be confirmed after this month's FIFA Futsal World Cup but the seven European entrants in Colombia are already guaranteed top seeding in the Futsal EURO draw.
Preliminary round: 23 January–1 February 2017
• Seven groups will be formed, five of four teams and two of three, all played as one-venue mini-tournaments.
• The contenders will be split into four seeding tiers according to their coefficient ranking. Seven sides are designated as hosts (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Gibraltar, Latvia, Lithuania and Wales) and drawn from a separate pot, while being placed into their groups according to their seeding tier (the two three-team groups will have no sides from the fourth pot).
• The seven group winners will advance to the main round.
Main round: 3–12 April 2017
• Seven groups of four will be formed.
• Again the sides will be divided into four seeding tiers, with the seven qualified teams from the preliminary round drawn in the fourth tier. The seven hosts are also pre-selected as per the preliminary round draw: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.
• The seven qualifying round group winners will progress to join Slovenia in the final tournament. The seven runners-up plus the best third-placed team will enter the play-offs on 10–13 & 24–27 September 2017. The winners of the four two-legged ties will complete the 12-team line-up for the finals.
Entering in preliminary round
Hosts (seeding position):
Latvia (1)
Georgia (1)
Bulgaria (2)
Lithuania (3)
Cyprus (3)
Wales (3)
Gibraltar (3)
Other entrants:
Position 1
France
Norway
Sweden
England
Greece
Position 2
Moldova
Denmark
Montenegro
Switzerland
Armenia
Andorra
Position 3
Albania
Israel
Estonia
Position 4
Malta
San Marino
Scotland
Germany (debut)
Kosovo (debut)
Entering in main round
Hosts (seeding position):
Ukraine** (1)
Azerbaijan** (1)
Kazakhstan** (1)
Romania (2)
Belarus (3)
Poland (3)
Turkey (3)
Other entrants:
Positition 1
Spain** (holders)
Russia**
Italy**
Portugal**
Position 2
Serbia**
Croatia**
Czech Republic**
Hungary**
Slovakia
Netherlands
Position 3
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Finland
FYR Macedonia
Position 4
Winners of preliminary round groups A–G
Finals hosts (bye):
Slovenia**
**qualified in 2016
courtesy: UEFA.com
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Brazil
Spain
Russia
Argentina
Italy
Portugal
Iran
Ukraine
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan