Gondomar given EURO honour

The main venue for the 2007 UEFA European Futsal Championship in Porto will be the new Pavilhão Multiusos de Gondomar.

New venue
When the tournament was awarded to Portugal the central Rosa Mota Hall was selected to stage ten of the 12 group matches, both semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final. The games have now been switched to the €15m site in the suburb of Gondomar, which is due to be completed by the end of 2006 with a planned capacity of around 3,800, plus two restaurants and several hospitality areas. The second location for two group matches remains the Centro de Desportos e Congressos de Matosinhos, which will also be used as a training hall.

October draw
A record number of entries are anticipated for the event, with the qualifying draw on 2 October, the preliminary round in January 2007 and the main round the following month. Seven teams will qualify to join hosts Portugal from 16-25 November 2007 - the last edition before the competition expands to a 12-side final round from 2009.