Futsal World Cup to kick off on 1 November

The FIFA Futsal Committee met at the Home of FIFA on Tuesday 14 February to discuss the latest developments ahead of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012. The Committee approved an amendment to the match schedule which will now see the 24-team competition kicking off one day earlier, on Thursday 1 November 2012. The matches are set to take place across three venues in Bangkok - Nonjok Stadium, Huamark Indoor Stadium and Nimibutr Stadium - and at Korat Stadium in the north eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, with the final taking place on Sunday 18 November. A full match schedule for the tournament will be published soon, with FIFA set to evaluate the construction progress of the Nonjok Stadium at the end of April. Thailand as hosts, and the Solomon Islands, champions from the Oceania Football Confederation’s preliminary competition, are the first two countries to qualify. A full list of the different qualifying competitions around the world can be found by clicking the link on the right. This year’s FIFA Futsal World Cup will be the seventh edition of the tournament, with Brazil and Spain the teams to beat. Not only have they contested three of the last four finals, they are the only two teams to have earned a world title, with Brazil winning in 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2008, sandwiching Spain’s two victories in 2000 and 2004.