The 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup is the tenth edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament is currently held in Uzbekistan.[1] It is the first FIFA tournament ever hosted by Uzbekistan and a Central Asian country. The tournament returns to its usual four-year cycle after the previous tournament was delayed for a year to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2023, Morocco was reported to have been given the hosting rights as they were reported to be the only bid submitted to FIFA.[6][7] However, Uzbekistan was selected as host on 23 June 2023.[1][11]
Uzbekistan's enthusiasm and impressive track-record at hosting events were deemed as the reasons for Uzbekistan's selection.[12] This is fourth time an Asian country hosts the event and marks the first time a FIFA tournament has been held in Central Asia. Prior, Uzbekistan was supposed to host the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, but were stripped of the hosting rights due to a number of logistical and technical issues; Japan took their place instead.
A total of 24 teams qualify for the final tournament, in addition to Uzbekistan who qualified automatically as host, 23 other teams qualify from six separate continental competitions.[25][26] Overall, 121 nations entered qualification.
Of the 24 qualifiers, four made their debut: Afghanistan, France, New Zealand and Tajikistan.[27][28][29][30][31]
Afghanistan's and Tajikistan's qualification, along with Iran and hosts Uzbekistan, means that for the first time, four nations from Central Asia qualified for the World Cup. This is also Tajikistan's first senior FIFA tournament, having previously participated in two FIFA U-17 World Cups. This is Afghanistan's first ever FIFA tournament.
Of the returnees, Europeans Croatia and Netherlands both return after a 24-year absence. Libya returns after last qualifying in 2012 while Cuba and Ukraine qualified after missing out on the previous edition.
Czech Republic, Serbia, and United States all failed to qualify after making the 2021 edition. The highest ranked team to fail to qualify was 7th, Russia while Cuba is the lowest ranked team to make it ranked 78th.
FIFA went to investigate the arenas in the Uzbek cities of Tashkent, Bukhara, Andijan, Samarkand and Fergana.[35] After they received the hosting rights, Uzbekistan proposed four venues for the tournament, all based in the capital Tashkent.[36] Tashkent, Bukhara and Andijan were confirmed as three host cities on 19 April 2024.[37][38]
The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, with the host Uzbekistan automatically seeded to Pot 1 and placed into the first position of Group A.[25] The seeding was based off the newly created FIFA Futsal World Rankings, that were published on 6 May 2024.[40]
The draw started with the host to A1, the teams from Pot 1 were drawn first, with the teams from Pots 2, 3 and 4 being drawn after. With the exception of UEFA, teams from the same confederation could not be drawn in the same group.
The following officials were chosen for the tournament.[42] For the second time, after the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup, in a FIFA Futsal tournament, the Video Support (VS) will be implemented.
Each team has to name a preliminary squad of a maximum of 30 players (3 of whom must be goalkeepers). From the preliminary squad, the team has to name a final squad of 14 players (two of whom must be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad can be replaced by a player from the preliminary squad due to serious injury or illness up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match.[43] All participating teams have to name their Futsal World Cup 2024 Squads in line with the guidelines set forth by FIFA and by the stipulated deadline. Any team failing to comply will be disqualified.[44]
In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played (two periods of five minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner. However, for the third place match, if it is played directly before the final, no extra time shall be played and the winner shall be determined by a penalty shoot-out.
Combinations of matches in the Round of 16
The specific match-ups involving the third-placed teams depend on which four third-placed teams qualified for the round of 16:
There have been 211 goals scored in 28 matches, for an average of 7.54 goals per match (as of 20 September 2024). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.
Marcel
