Portugal and Poland take plaudits

Sporting Clube de Portugal and Clearex Chorzów have become the first teams to win through to the UEFA Futsal Cup Elite round while 2005/06 semi-finalists Kairat Almaty and FC Shakhtar Donetsk both made winning starts in their groups.

Last-day decider
The Portuguese and Polish champions each made it two wins out of two to confirm the two qualifying positions from Group 3, although their head-to-head meeting on Thursday will determine who finishes first in the section. Sporting confirmed their progress with a 4-2 victory against KMF Alfa Parf Skopje while Chorzów were 7-3 winners against FC Adana Yerevan.

Adolfo double
Sporting, bidding to follow in the footsteps of SL Benfica who reached the final in 2003/04, were never in trouble today against the team from F.Y.R. Macedonia. Davi opened the scoring in the early stages and once Adolfo doubled the advantage in the 16th minute, Sporting could relax. Adolfo made it 3-0 midway through the second half before Zoran Leveski reduced the deficit. Sporting goalkeeper Cristiano wrapped up the win with a long-range effort before Leveski added a second consolation.

Filipczak hits four
Things were more complicated for Chorzów in the day’s first game. The mini-tournament hosts, who like Sporting competed in the very first UEFA Futsal Cup back in 2001/02, trailed 2-1 to their Armenian opponents in the 23rd minute but came back strongly. Much of that was down to Krzysztof Filipczak’s four goals, including the crucial equaliser in the 30th minute. Adana will hope to avoid finishing in last place in the section when they take on Skopje on Thursday, before the top two meet.

Kairat success
In Group 1, Kairat made a solid start in Sarajevo as two goals from Etienne and one by Pica Pau gave them a 3-0 win against Slov-Matic Fofo Bratislava. Italy's Arzignano Grifo C/5 lead the way as they defeated hosts KMF Partizan Sarajevo 5-0. Fabrizio Amoroso scored on 12 minutes and Andrea Piccinini, John Pinilla, Danilo and Fernando Wilhelm all struck late on. Arzignano and Kairat meet on Wednesday as Partizan take on Bratislava.

Shakhtar win
Shakhtar lead Group 5 thanks to a 6-1 victory against preliminary round qualifiers Toligma Chisinau. Ian Iacovenco put through a sixth-minute own goal but Toligma's lead swiftly disappeared thanks to Oleg Miroshnyk and Oleksandr Kondratyuk put Shakhtar ahead before half-time. After the break Ramis Mansurov scored twice and Serhiy Sytin and Miroshnyk added further goals. Hungarian group hosts Futsal Club Gödöllö, who meet Toligma next, defeated FC Raba of Riga 4-0 as János Madarász scored twice before the break and Tamás Szente managed two in quick succession early in the second period.

Final four
The remaining three groups start on Thursday, with the top two from each to take their place alongside the top four seeds - holders Boomerang Interviú, MFK Dinamo Moskva, Action 21 Charleroi and Spanish outfit El Pozo Murcia - in December's Elite round, with the draw being held on 3 November. Ultimately, all four Elite groups will send one team to the 'final four' tournament, scheduled for 26-28 April.