FIFA Futsal World Cup

The FIFA Futsal World Championship (popularly, if incorrectly, referred to as the "Futsal World Cup") is the international championship for futsal, the indoor version of football.

The world championship tournament is held every four years, on the even year between two Football World Cups. The first event was held in 1989, the year FIFA became the world governing body of futsal. It was held in the Netherlands to commemorate the popularity of the game there. Through the 2004 Futsal World Championships, only two countries have taken the Futsal World Championship -- Brazil winning the first three, defeating the host Spaniards in 1996 to win their third title, followed by Spain winning the most recent two, defeating Brazil in 2000, then Italy in 2004 in the first Futsal World Championship final that didn't feature Brazil. A host country has yet to win the Championship, with the 1989 Dutch and 1996 Spanish teams coming closest in final-match losses. The next event will be held in 2008 in Brazil, with regional qualifying expected to start in mid-2007.

All events thus far have been 16-team events. The first event featured 6 from Europe, 3 from South America, two from Africa, two from Asia, two from North and Central America, and one from Oceania. By 2004, the breakdown was Europe 5 teams, Asia 4 (including the hosts, competing as Chinese Taipei), South America 3, North and Central America 2, Africa and Oceania one each.

The first stage of the event features four groups of four teams. The top two teams in each group then advance to a second stage of two groups of four teams. This is followed by a four-team knockout final series.

ummaries

Ranking

ee also

*FIFUSA/AMF Futsal World Cup

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/index/0,2442,Futsal2004,00.html?comp=Futsal&year=2004 FIFA.com: 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesf/futsal-wc.html RSSSF archive]