15.50 – Pinocho (Arg) vs. Al Muharraq (Bah)
17.00 - City'Us (Rom) vs. Erdre (Fra

Today Group B gets underway with Pinocho will be a formidable opponent, being one of the most successful teams in Argentina. They won five consecutive championships between 2008 and 2012 and between 2006 and 2008 competed in Copa Libertadores de Futsal finishing 3rd on two occasions. Further in 2007 they won the Umbro FutsalPlanet World Team of the Year Award.

Al Muharraq is one of the oldest Arab football clubs, founded in 1928. The futsal section is led by Brazilian coach Gustavo Zloccowick who also coaches the Bahrain national team in futsal and beach football. He has been very successful in the latter form of the game and will hope he can bring some of that success to futsal at this tournament. He told the press he is confident his team is ready having recently played two friendly matches against Al Ahli from Saudi Arabia.

The second match in Group B is an all European affair, with the teams coming from Romania and France. City US have 3 Romanian titles (2010, 2011, 2012) and 5 Romanian Cups which also means they have UEFA Futsal Cup experience. Their head coach, Andrey, has said his team is ready for the match even if some players are still to arrive.
Erdre, from France, were runners up in the French league. They have several foreigners in their squad including Nano who was playing in the Spanish 1st Division last year and 3 Brazilians. Their president commented that the match will be difficult although he is confident that the team has a great ambition to win and compete.

The media has taken to the tournament with coverage across the Arab world and even further. Many newspapers, TV channels and websites are talking about the competition. Yesterday the final teams to arrive landed in Kuwait. Tournment favourites Santiago Futsal from Spain, Dabiri from Iran and Chonburi from Thailand are all now enjoying the Kuwaiti hospitality.





FP Staff --> info@futsalplanet.com