Finishing touches to Futsal Cup

Final preparations are being put to the first UEFA Futsal Cup featuring eight of the best teams from across Europe.

Lisbon hosting
The club tournament is being held in Lisbon and kicks off in the Portuguese capital next Monday when Croatian side MNK 1700 Split take on Italian team AS Roma. It runs from 25 February to 3 March and all the games will be played indoors at the Pavilhão Atlântico, an arena that will be able to cater for 5,000 Futsal fans.

Squads chosen
Each of the teams has already chosen a preliminary 20-man squad. This will then be reduced to 14 players for the tournament itself. Only five players can be on the pitch at a time, leaving seven on the bench although unlimited substitutions can be made throughout the match.

Qualifying success
The eight sides, who all earned their place after winning qualifying mini-tournaments that featured a total of 27 five-a-side teams, have been divided into two groups of four. Each team will play each other once with the top two teams from both groups advancing to the last four.

Final on Sunday
The semi-finals will be played on Saturday 2 March with the final following the next day. As well as Split, Roma and hosts Sporting Clube de Portugal, the five other teams are MNK Kaskada Gracanica (BHZ), Action 21 Charleroi (BEL), CSÖ-Montage Budapest FC (HUN), Clearex-Chorzòw (POL) and Playas de Castellón (ESP).

Reigning champions
The club tournament follows the staging of the UEFA European Futsal Championship for national teams, which is now into its third edition. Spain are the reigning champions, having beaten Ukraine in Russia last year.