FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024: groups, arenas, format, when matches will take place

From 14 September to 6 October, Uzbekistan will host the tenth anniversary Futsal World Cup. The Dailysports team has prepared for you all the important information about this tournament.

Futsal World Cup 2024: where will it be held?

For the first time, the tournament under the auspices of FIFA will be held in Central Asia, namely in Uzbekistan. The organisers have identified three arenas for the matches: Khumo Arena in Tashkent and sports complexes in Bukhara and Andijan.

Futsal World Cup 2024: who will play?

The tournament will feature 24 teams: seven from Europe, five from Asia, four each from South and North America, three from Africa and one from Oceania. There will be four debutants at this tournament: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, New Zealand and France.

A total of six groups of four teams have been decided:

• Group A: Uzbekistan, Netherlands, Paraguay, Costa Rica
• Group B: Brazil, Cuba, Croatia, Thailand
• Group C: Argentina, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Angola
• Group D: Spain, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Libya
• Group E: Portugal, Panama, Tajikistan, Morocco
• Group F: Iran, Venezuela, Guatemala, France.

Recall that the reigning world champion is the national team of Portugal, which defeated Argentina 2:1 in the final.

Futsal World Cup 2024: what is the format?

The format is quite simple. In the group stage, each team will play each team in one round. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams in the group, as well as the top four teams in the ranking of teams that finished third, will be in the play-offs.

• Read also: The groups of the main stage of qualifiers for UEFA Futsal EURO 2026 have been determined

Next is the standard elimination tournament, which will begin with the round of 16. Like the FIFA World Cup, the Futsal World Cup features a third place match.

Futsal World Cup 2024: when will the matches take place?

The following timeframes have been allocated for the group stage:

• Round 1: 14-16 September
• Round 2: 17-19 September
• Round 3: 20-22 September

After a one-day rest, the play-off stage will start:

• Round of 16: 24-27 September
• Quarter-finals: 29-30 September
• Semi-finals: 2-3 October
• Final and match for the third place - 6 October

It should be noted that the semi-final stages, as well as matches for gold and bronze medals, will be held exclusively in Tashkent.