Futsal World Cup elite round and play-off draw
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The rounds that will decide Europe's six qualifiers alongside hosts Lithuania have been drawn.
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Elite round draw (27 January to 5 February)
Group A: Portugal (hosts), Italy, Belarus, Finland
Group B: Spain, Serbia (hosts), Ukraine, France
Group C: Russia, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Croatia (hosts)
Group D: Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Romania, Czech Republic (hosts)
- The four group winners will qualify for the finals in Lithuania from 12 September to 4 October.
- The four runners-up will go into the play-offs on 9 and 12 April for the remaining two UEFA berths.
- Finland and Belarus began in the preliminary round.
- Spain won the World Cup in 2000 and 2004, and reached three other finals, while being one of just three ever-present teams in the eight editions alongside fellow champions Brazil and Argentina.
- Italy (2004) and Russia (2016) have also been runners-up.
- Belarus, Finland, France, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are aiming to qualify for the first time; Finland and Slovakia have never been to a major tournament.
Play-off draw (9 & 12 April)
Runner-up Group C v Runner-up Group D
Runner-up Group B v Runner-up Group A
- The two play-off winners over two legs progress to the finals.
- Based on decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee, Russia and Ukraine may not play against each other in the play-offs. Upon completion of the elite round, should the prohibited clash occur, the away team of tie 1 will be swapped with the away team of tie 2.
Finals: 12 September–4 October 2020, Lithuania (Kaunas Arena, Vilnius Arena and Klaipėda Arena)
Qualifying allocation
AFC 5
CAF 3
CONCACAF 4
CONMEBOL 4
OFC 1 (Solomon Islands)
UEFA 7 (hosts Lithuania and 6 qualifiers)
Elite round draw procedure
- The teams were drawn into four groups of four.
- The main round group winners were seeded according to their coefficient ranking with the top-four ranked teams assigned to position 1 in each group and the others to position 2.
- The main round runners-up werenot seeded and assigned to positions 3 and 4.
- There wereseven potential mini-tournament hosts, three seeded in position 1, one in position 2, three in position 4. They were split into three draw bowls accordingly.
- First a position (1, 2 or 4) was drawn, then a team from the appropriate bowl drawn and assigned to Group A according to their seeding.
- This procedure was repeated for the other three groups.
- Once the four hosts were drawn, the remaining three teams were reassigned to their appropriate draw pot.
- The remaining teams were drawn according to their seeding.
- Based on decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee, Russia and Ukraine cannot be drawn into the same group
- The elite round will be played between 27 January and 5 February.
- The four group winners will qualify for the finals in Lithuania from 12 September to 4 October.
- The four runners-up will go into the play-offs on 9 and 12 April for the remaining two UEFA berths.
Elite round draw pots
Hosts:
Bowl 1 (Position 4)
Croatia
Czech Republic
Ukraine
Bowl 2 (Position 2)
Serbia
Bowl 3 (Position 1)
Russia
Spain
Portugal
Pot 1 (Positions 3 & 4, non-drawn hosts will be added):
Belarus
Finland
France
Romania
Slovakia
Pot 2 (Position 2, non-drawn hosts will be added):
Azerbaijan
Italy
Slovenia
Pot 3 (Position 1, non-drawn hosts will be added):
Kazakhstan
Main round group winners: Spain (1), Slovenia (2), Azerbaijan (3), Italy (4), Kazakhstan (5), Serbia (6), Russia (7), Portugal (8)
Main round group runners-up: Finland (1), Ukraine (2), Slovakia (3), Belarus (4), Romania (5), France (6), Croatia (7), Czech Republic (8)
Draw facts
- Finland and Belarus began in the preliminary round.
- Spain won the World Cup in 2000 and 2004, and reached three other finals, while being one of just three ever-present teams in the eight editions alongside fellow champions Brazil and Argentina.
- Italy (2004) and Russia (2016) have also been runners-up.
- Belarus, Finland, France, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are aiming to qualify for the first time; Finland and Slovakia have never been to a major tournament.
Play-off draw procedure
The four elite-round runners-up were pre-drawn into two home-and-away ties to be played on 9 and 12 April for the remaing two berths in the finals.
Pot 4
Runner-up Group A
Runner-up Group B
Runner-up Group C
Runner-up Group D