The European qualifying competition for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup was a men's futsal competition that determined the seven UEFA teams in the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan.
Format
The qualifying competition consists of five stages:[2]
Preliminary round: The lowest-ranked 24 teams play in the preliminary round, and are drawn into six groups of four teams. The winners and runners-up of each group advance to the main round to join the 24 highest-ranked teams which receive byes to the main round.
Main round: The 36 teams are drawn into twelve groups of three. The 12 winners and four best runners-up progress directly to the elite round. The remaining eight runners-up enter main round play-offs.
Main round play-offs: The eight teams are drawn into four ties, to be played home and away. The four winners of the ties complete the elite round line-up.
Elite round: The 20 teams are drawn into five groups of four. The winners of each group qualify directly for the World Cup, while the four best runners-up advance to the play-offs.
Elite round play-offs: The four teams are drawn into two ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last two European qualified teams. If only two teams enter, a draw will be held to determine the order of matches.
In the preliminary round each group is played as a round-robin mini-tournament at the pre-selected hosts.
In the main and the elite round, each team plays one home and one away match against each other team in its group.
Tiebreakers
In the preliminary round teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 15.01 and 15.02):[2]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient;
In the main and the elite round, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 15.01 and 15.02):[2]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient used for the group phase draw;
In the play-offs, the team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualifies for the final tournament. As there is no away goals rule, if the aggregate score is level, an extra time of two 5-minute periods is played. If both teams score the same number of goals or no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out (Regulations Article 16.01).[2]
Teams
The 48 teams were seeded according to the coefficient ranking. Seeded teams were determined based in November 2021 UEFA coefficient (shown in brackets). Six teams were pre-selected as hosts for the preliminary round. The draw for the preliminary round was held on 7 December 2021.
NR – No rank (Team has been inactive on the previous 36 months)
Schedule
The qualifying matches are played on dates that fall within the FIFA Futsal International Match Calendar.
Schedule for 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup European qualifying
Round
Draw
Dates
Preliminary round
7 December 2021
5–12 April 2022
Main round
7 July 2022
17 September 2022–8 March 2023
Main round play-offs
10 March 2023
10–19 April 2023
Elite round
5 July 2023
14–20 December 2023
Elite round play-offs
25 January 2024
8–17 April 2024
Preliminary round
The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the main round to join the 24 teams which receive byes. The preliminary round was scheduled to be played between 5–12 April 2022.
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Source: UEFA Rules for classification: Tiebreakers (H) Hosts Notes:
^Russia originally received a bye to the Main Round, but on 2 May 2022 UEFA banned all Russian clubs and teams from European competitions due to the invasion of Ukraine. Russia was replaced by Norway, which was the best third-ranked team of the preliminary round.[3]
The winners and four best runners-up advanced to the elite round. The remaining eight runners-up enter main round play-offs. The matches of the main round must be completed by 8 March 2023. The draw for the main round was held on 7 July 2022.
Russia originally received a bye to the Main Round, but on 2 May 2022 UEFA banned all Russian clubs and teams from European competitions due to the invasion of Ukraine. Russia was replaced by Norway, which was the best third-ranked team of the preliminary round.[4]
Times are CEST (UTC+2) and CET (UTC+1), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
The draw for the elite round was held on 8 June 2023,[11][12] with matches to be completed by 20 December 2023. The five group winners qualified to the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup. The four best runners-up entered the elite round play-offs.
Teams qualified from the main round and the main round play-offs
Matches declared forfeited for the violation of Article 38 of the Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup (player eligibility) by Romania[13]
Matches declared forfeited for the violation of Article 38 of the Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup (player eligibility) by Romania[13]
Match declared forfeited for the violation of Article 38 of the Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup (player eligibility) by Azerbaijan[14]
Matches declared forfeited for the violation of Article 38 of the Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup (player eligibility) by Armenia and Georgia[15]
Matches declared forfeited for the violation of Article 38 of the Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup (player eligibility) by Georgia[16]
Matches declared forfeited for the violation of Article 38 of the Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup (player eligibility) by Georgia[16]
^ abAt first, Lithuanian Federation refused to play against Belarus due to the country's involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, after FIFA threatened with disciplinary actions, the Lithuanian Federation requested UEFA their home match against Belarus to be played at a neutral venue. The decision means that both home and away matches will be played in Armenia.[5]
