Futsal set for Olympics

UEFA’s Futsal Committee has given its full support to FIFA’s move to have Futsal included in the Winter Olympics, starting with the 2006 Games in Turin.

Olympic report
The committee was meeting at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on Wednesday and dealt with a number of issues related to the sport. It noted a report published by the Italian Olympic Committtee that said nearly four million people in Italy regularly play five-a-side compared to one million active eleven-a-side players.

Match calendar
The committee also declared its intention to create an international match calendar. This would include both national team and club fixtures, similar to the one existing for eleven-a-side football.

Conference hope
The committee also investigated the possibility of staging a special course for referees in the near future. Furthermore, the committee is hopeful that the first ever Futsal Conference will be staged by the end of 2002.

Draw takes place
At the end of the meeting, committee chairman Petr Fousek (Czech Republic), assisted by one of his vice-chairmen, Hans Boll (Netherlands), drew the qualifying groups for the 2002/03 UEFA Futsal Championship.

Italy exempted
Twenty-nine national associations have entered the competition, with Italy exempted from the qualifying phase as the hosts of the final tournament, which will take place from 16 to 22 February 2003. The remaining 28 participants have been drawn into seven groups of four teams each. Each qualifying group will be played as a mini-tournament in one of the countries involved, and the group winners will qualify for the final tournament.