UEFA Futsal EURO 2026 quarter-final Saturday preview: France vs Ukraine, Armenia vs Croatia

The UEFA Futsal EURO 2026 quarter-finals begin on Saturday with the last matches of the tournament in Latvia and Lithuania as France play Ukraine at Arena Riga and then Armenia take on Croatia at Žalgirio Arena, Kaunas.

France vs Ukraine (Riga)

The quarter-finals begin with a classic match-up between one of the game's emerging forces and traditional giants. France are only in their second Futsal EURO and, after drawing their opener 2-2 with Croatia, secured their first-ever European finals wins by beating Latvia 5-0 and Georgia 3-1 to top Group A.

However, Les Bleus' progress is hardly a shock; they were the 41-goal qualifying top scorers having, on debut, reached the semi-finals of the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup, their stars from that run like Mamadou Siragassy Touré, Abdessamad Mohammed and Souheil Mouhoudine on top form again in Riga and Kaunas. In the World Cup, however, they were beaten for third place 7-1 by Ukraine, who are now in the last eight of a Futsal EURO for the 11th edition running over a 25-year span since finishing runners-up in 2001 and 2003.

Ukraine started Group B in Kaunas with a 2-1 loss to Armenia. However, they were also beaten in their openers at Futsal EURO 2022 and the 2024 World Cup and each time made the semis. This time round Ukraine went on to defeat Lithuania 4-1 before travelling to Riga and booking progress with a 5-3 win against Czechia, two goals coming from Danyil Abakshyn, who got a hat-trick in that global bronze-earning victory against France in Uzbekistan.

Abdessamad Mohammed, France captain: "The European Championship is prestigious, there are no weak opponents. We will prepare in the same way. We came here with a specific goal in mind and we will do everything in our power to achieve it."

Oleksandr Kosenko, Ukraine coach: "France are really hard opponents for us, but we have had some experiences against them and now we need to prepare as we know they are good on the ball.”

Armenia vs Croatia (Kaunas)

Armenia had never qualified for a major tournament before knocking out Kazakhstan to make it to these finals. Their debut has been spectacular, following that comeback defeat of Ukraine by beating Czechia 5-4 to win Kaunas-based Group B with a game to space, though they dropped points on Wednesday when pegged back late on in a 3-3 draw with Lithuania.

After that promising opening 2-2 draw with France, Croatia were held to the same scoreline by Georgia. Croatia dominated that game with 60 shots but conceded late to leave them needing to beat Latvia in Riga on Wednesday. They duly did so 4-1, but only after coming from behind, equalising late in the first half.

That took Croatia into their first EURO quarter-final since 2014, two years on from reaching their sole semi as hosts, but they did get past the 2024 World Cup group stage to confirm their recent improvement. Their most recent competitive meeting with Saturday's opponents was a 9-0 win in a qualifier in 2015 but Armenia are a transformed side since then, still having to begin qualifying in the preliminary round as recently as the 2024 World Cup.

Ruben Nazaretyan, Armenia coach: "Looking back at the group stage, we played very well in all three games. We go into the game against Croatia in a very good mood."

Marinko Mavrović, Croatia coach: "Armenia are a strong team, but we will prepare very well. I think we are a better team and will go through to the semi-finals."