Benfica lead futsal hopefuls

UEFA Futsal Cup holders SL Benfica will be joined by former winners MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg and Action 21 Charleroi as 48 sides enter the list for the 2010/11 edition.

The top four clubs in Europe – Benfica, Ekaterinburg, ElPozo Murcia FS and three-time semi-finalists AFC Kairat Almaty – all have byes to the elite round but the remaining contenders will take part in the preliminary and main round draws at 14.00CET on Tuesday. UEFA.com will have live video from Nyon as the teams ranked fifth to 21st, including Charleroi and the competition's only ever-presents Iberia Star Tbilisi (formerly Iberia 2003), are given byes to the main round.

The other 27 entrants begin in the preliminary round from 14 to 22 August, played as one-venue mini-tournaments with six groups of four sides and one of three. Clubs have been split into four seeding tiers, with seven in the first three and six in the fourth; a separate draw pot will apply for the six designated mini-tournament hosts who are kept apart from each other as well as from the teams in their own ranking group. The seven group winners go through.

In the main round draw there will be six groups of four, with sides again split by seeding tier and a separate draw pot for the hosts. One group will contain two preliminary round winners and the other five will have one each. After the mini-tournaments played from 25 September to 3 October, the top two in each group progress to join the top seeds in the elite round draw on 11 October. Four elite round groups will be staged from 12 to 20 November with the winners advancing to the finals in April 2011 and the hosts picked from among that quartet.