UEFA Futsal Champions League main round: Palma, Sporting, Barça, Benfica, Kairat among teams through

UEFA Futsal Champions League holders Mallorca Palma Futsal are among the 16 teams through to the elite round from the main round.

Fellow qualifiers include former winners Barça, Benfica, Kairat Almaty and Sporting CP, along with debutants Etoile Lavalloise, Hit Kyiv, Lubawa and Prishtina 01, as well as another club reaching their first elite round in Riga Futsal Club, featuring the competition's all-time top scorer Ricardinho.

The elite round draw will be streamed live at 14:00 CET on Thursday.

How the main round worked

The 23 clubs entering at this stage, including Palma and former champions Barça, Benfica, Kairat Almaty and Sporting CP, were joined by the nine that came through August's preliminary round.

The main round was split into two paths. Palma, the next 11 top-ranked clubs and further teams ranked 16th to 19th competed in Path A, from which the leading three sides in each group progressed. The remaining contenders were in Path B, with only the group winners going through.

The main round leads to the elite round from 28 November to 3 December. The four elite round group winners will progress to the finals on 2/3 and 4/5 May, with the hosts to be confirmed.

Main round groups

*Group hosts

Path A

• The top three teams in each of the four groups qualified for the elite round

Group 1
Through to elite round: Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR), Hit Kyiv (UKR), Olmissum (CRO)*
Also in group: Ayat (KAZ)

• Sporting were held in their opener as debutants Hit equalised late in a 2-2 draw, but last season's runners-up overcame Ayat 6-1 to make sure of their elite round spot. As Olmissum beat Ayat 3-2, that result also confirmed the Croatian hosts' progress, and their 4-1 loss to Hit meant the Ukrainian team took the remaining spot with Saturday's games still to go. Sporting then defeated Olmissum 6-2 to top the group (meaning they equalled Inter FS's record of 68 UEFA futsal club competition wins and moved two clear of Inter's old record of 410 goals), with Hit second after drawing 2-2 against Ayat. Nuno Dias of Sporting also became the first coach to record 50 competition wins with a single club (Jesús Velasco has 60 wins but with multiple teams).

Group 2
Through to elite round: Barça (ESP), Sporting Anderlecht Futsal (BEL), Loznica-Grad 2018 (SRB)*
Also in group: Luxol St. Andrews Futsal (MLT)

• Barça followed up their opening 6-0 win against Luxol St. Andrews by producing a 2-1 comeback defeat of the team that pipped them to the finals last year, Anderlecht, making sure of progress. Loznica-Grad also made the elite round with a game to spare after a 3-1 win versus Luxol to follow their 2-1 loss to Anderlecht, who also defeated the Maltese contenders 5-1 on Saturday to get through. Barça overcame Loznica-Grad 2-0 for first place, coach Jesús Velasco becoming the first to oversee 75 games in this competition.

Group 3
Through to elite round: Mallorca Palma Futsal (ESP, holders)*, Kairat Almaty (KAZ), Haladás (HUN)
Also in group: Differdange 03 (LUX) 

• In Thursday's openers, Palma began their title defence by recovering from conceding early on to Haladás and winning 3-1, while two-time champions Kairat overcame Differdange 4-2. On Friday, Haladás equalised with one second left to draw 2-2 with Kairat, but the Kazakh side were assured of progress after Palma beat Differdange 9-4 to also make sure of their elite round berth. Differdange needed to beat Haladás on Sunday to pip them to the last remaining elite round spot and led through Rafael Bocum, but Arnon Santos Cassemiro responded to earn a 1-1 draw. Palma clinched top spot as they won 4-3 against Kairat, who made history by becoming the first club to play 100 matches in this competition.

Group 4
Through to elite round: Benfica (POR), Etoile Lavalloise (FRA), Dobovec (SVN)*
Also in group: United Galati (ROU)

• Benfica needed to produce a late two-goal comeback to hold newcomers Etoile Lavalloise in their opener but found top form on Thursday as they defeated United Galati 12-0, outdoing even their 8-1 win against the same opponents at this stage last season. Etoile Lavalloise then beat Dobovec 4-0 to join Benfica on four points, and the French side booked an elite round debut courtesy of a 10-4 victory against United Galati. Benfica topped the section on goal difference when they won 8-1 against Dobovec, who took third ahead of United Galati by the same method. Benfica now have 409 European goals, only three off new record holders Sporting.

Path B

• The four group winners qualified for the elite round

Group 5
Through to elite round: Lubawa (POL)
Also in group: Futsal Dinamo (CRO)*, Titograd (MNE), Örebro (SWE)

• Going into the final day's action, Titograd and Lubawa were a point ahead of debutants Dinamo. Lubawa defeated already-eliminated Örebro 10-2 to leave Titograd needing a big win against Dinamo to pip the Polish side on goal difference. Instead, Dinamo, whose hopes were over due to the earlier result, won 3-0 to delight the third straight big crowd backing the hosts in Zagreb and take second place behind Lubawa.

Group 6
Through to elite round: Riga Futsal Club (LVA)
Also in group: Futsal Gentofte (DEN), Radnik Bijeljina (BIH), Plzeň (CZE)*

• Riga went through with a game to spare after defeating Gentofte 9-1 and Plzeň 7-1. The Latvian side finished with a 9-4 win against Radnik and will now contest the elite round for the first time, including during their previous guise as Petro-w. Ricardinho, who in the preliminary round became the competition's all-time leading scorer as he moved ahead of André Vanderlei's tally of 54 goals, now stands on 59 (from 70 games, the second highest all-time total) after striking twice against Gentofte and once versus both Plzeň and Radnik, for whom Mirko Marinković also registered to move on to a competition-leading 14 for the season. Riga have 58 goals from six games this season, the highest tally since FC Dynamo scored 66 in 2004/05.

Group 7
Through to elite round: Prishtina 01 (KOS)
Also in group: Kauno Žalgiris (LTU)*, Kampuksen Dynamo (FIN), AEL Limassol (CYP)

• Kauno and Prishtina both won their openers then drew 0-0 when they met on Thursday (only the competition's eighth no-score draw in over 2,100 matches), the Lithuanian hosts ahead on goal difference. Kampuksen Dynamo, beaten 6-0 by Prishtina on the opening day, remained in contention after a 7-2 win that ended AEL's hopes of progress. However, Prishtina's 8-2 defeat of AEL proved enough as Kauno were held 1-1 by Kampuksen Dynamo.

Group 8
Through to elite round: Città di Eboli (ITA)*
Also in group: Stalitsa Minsk (BLR), Lučenec (SVK), Doukas (GRE)

• Stalitsa and Città di Eboli faced off in Saturday's decider after both beat Doukas and Lučenec. The Italian hosts trailed on goal difference so needed a win, and came through 2-0 thanks to second-half goals from Dario Marinović and Venâncio as Stalitsa were twice reduced to four men.

*Group hosts

Team facts

• Palma won the title on debut last season, when they also faced Kairat in the main round (drawing 2-2 on that occasion to finish top of their group, with Kairat third).
• Barça, Benfica, Kairat and 2022/23 runners-up Sporting CP are also past winners.
• Anderlecht made the semi-finals for the first time last season, knocking out holders Barça in the elite round.
• Kairat are the first club to enter 20 seasons of UEFA futsal competition.
• Teams that came through the preliminary round: AEL Limassol, Doukas, Lubawa, Lučenec, Örebro, Prishtina 01, Radnik Bijeljina, Riga and Titograd.
• Etoile Lavalloise, Hit Kyiv and Futsal Dinamo made their debuts, while AEL Limassol, Lubawa, Prishtina 01 and Radnik Bijeljina did so in the preliminary round.
• Riga Futsal Club previously entered as Petro-w. In the preliminary round, their summer signing Ricardinho scored six times to reach 55 goals in the competition, overtaking previous record-holder André Vanderlei.
• Mirko Marinković of Radnik got 12 goals in two preliminary round games, having previously finished overall top scorer in 2021/22 with Diamant Linz, registering 11 in three matches.

Calendar

Elite round draw: 2 November
Elite round: 28 November–3 December
Finals draw: TBC
Finals: 2 or 3 & 4 or 5 May

All dates subject to change