UEFA Futsal EURO 2026 Matchday 2 Monday preview: Belarus vs Spain, Belgium vs Slovenia

UEFA Futsal EURO 2026 continues on Monday with more Group C action at Arena Stožice, Ljubljana, where Spain and Belgium will be looking for early progress and both Belarus and co-hosts Slovenia hope to recover from opening defeats.

Group C: Belarus vs Spain (17:30 CET, Ljubljana)

Aiming to end a decade without a major tournament win since their seventh Futsal EURO success in 2016, Spain began in ominous style on Friday, beating co-hosts Slovenia 4-1 thanks to a spectacular first-half display. Now, facing a nation they defeated 9-1 on their way to the 2010 title, Spain know that a win, if coupled with Slovenia not beating Belgium, would already ensure they make it past a 22nd major group stage in a row since their sole early exit at the inaugural 1989 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Belarus lost 4-0 to Belgium on Friday in their first finals appearance since their 2010 debut. In Hungary 16 years ago, they recovered from that opening defeat by Spain with a 5-5 draw against Portugal in which current coach Aleksandr Chernik scored. Having finished above Italy and Finland in qualifying, his side will feel they have more to show, not least since the scoreline against Belgium did not perhaps reflect how close that encounter was.

Aleksandr Chernik, Belarus coach: "We understand the strength of our opponent and are preparing for the match with Spain in the most serious way.We have done our homework, analysed our match, and studied our opponent.The main thing now is to forget the defeat in the first match and put all the negativity out of our minds."

Jesús Velasco, Spain coach: "Our first game gave us good sensations and I think we were at a good level. Our idea is to continue to impose our style of play. It will be difficult, and we will see two very different styles of futsal.

"We can't improve much compared to what we did in the first half of the game against Slovenia, but perhaps we could have been more determined in the search for more goals in the second half. We always have to make some adjustments, especially since we had very few training sessions to prepare for this Futsal EURO."

Group C: Belgium vs Slovenia (20:30, Ljubljana)

Omar Rahou was the last player to score for Belgium in a Futsal EURO before this tournament – 12 years ago in Antwerp – and the Red Devils' all-time caps and goals leader picked up where he left off on Friday with a hat-trick in the defeat of Belarus. That was Belgium's first EURO finals win since finishing third in 1996, and another victory would take them through to the quarter-finals as long as Spain do not lose to Belarus.

Co-hosts Slovenia, with more than 8,000 fans backing them at Arena Stožice, were caught out by Spain's fast start but did edge the second half 1-0 and can maintain strong hopes of a third quarter-final. Indeed, they disappointment in their previous opener as hosts in 2018, conceding a last-minute goal to draw 2-2 with Serbia before eventually going through via a 2-1 comeback win against Italy. An Igor Osredkar double secured that victory, and on Friday he became only the third player to appear in seven Futsal EURO final tournaments.

Karim Bachar, Belgium coach: "We qualified for this EURO against all expectations, first by finishing ahead of Serbia in our group and then by beating Bosnia and Herzegoviva in the play-offs. Despite being the only non-professional team at the tournament, we came here with a clear objective: to fight for every point and try to win games.

"We achieved that in our opening match against Belarus. Now we aim to take points against Slovenia as well. Slovenia are a very strong team and they are playing at home, but we will battle for every ball on the pitch."

Tomislav Horvat, Slovenia coach: "Of course, we are sad about [the Spain] outcome, but it's not the end of the world. We knew it was going to be difficult, but we still have two matches to play and our tournament really starts now."