Dina among mini-tournament hosts

UEFA Futsal Cup debutants ISK Dina Moskva are among the 14 clubs pre-selected as hosts for the preliminary and main rounds, the draw to be streamed live on UEFA.com from 14.00CET on 3 July.

In total, 29 clubs (ranked 21–49) will start the competition in the preliminary round – including a Gibraltarian side for the first time – with 16 more (ranked 5–20) entering for the main round and the top four seeds (holders FC Barcelona, Kairat Almaty, Araz Naxçivan and Sporting Clube de Portugal) given a bye to the elite round. The full list of entries and seedings will be confirmed in due course but the clubs to stage the seven preliminary round groups and six main round mini-tournaments are now decided.

The preliminary round from 26 to 31 August will feature five groups of four and three of three. Picked to host the groups, and thus kept apart in the draw while maintaining their respective seedings, are MNK Alumnus Zagreb (CRO), FC Grand Pro Varna (BUL), APOEL FC (CYP), MNK Centar Sarajevo (BIH), Record Bielsko-Byala (POL), Eden Futsal (IRL), FSC Schwaz (AUT) and FC Agama Podgorica (MNE).

The eight group winners will progress to join the 16 teams given a bye to the main round, where they will be split into six groups of four to be played from 30 September to 5 October. Here the hosts will be: KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac (SRB), FK EP Chrudim (CZE), FK Nikars Riga (LVA), MVFC Berettjóújfalu (HUN), KMN Kobarid (SVN) and IFK Dina Moskva (RUS), who may not have entered this competition before but won a previous unofficial European club trophy three times in their previous period of Russian domination. Also in the main round will be tournament ever-presents Iberia Star Tbilisi and sole three-time winners Interviú Madrid.

The main round will be contested from 30 September to 5 October and the top two in each of the six groups will follow the four top seeds into the elite round draw on 17 October. The four elite round group winners, to be decided between 18 and 23 November, will compete in the final tournament in late April with the hosts chosen from among them.