Courtesy: uefa.com

Hosts and seedings confirmed for elite round

FC Barcelona, FK EP Chrudim, Kairat Almaty and Sporting Clube de Portugal will host the elite round groups, with the draw streamed live from 14.00CET on 17 October.

Holders FC Barcelona, FK EP Chrudim, Kairat Almaty and Sporting Clube de Portugal and have been picked to host the four UEFA Futsal Cup elite round groups ahead of the draw in Nyon at 14.00CET on 17 October, streamed live on UEFA.com

• The 12 teams that came through the main round last week join the four given byes to this stage: Barcelona, Kairat, Sporting and last season's finals hosts Araz Naxçivan.

• There will be three tiers of seeds: the four top-ranked sides given byes to this round; main round group winners; main round group runners-up.

• Two groups will contain one top-ranked side, two group winners and one runner-up; the other two will contain one top-ranked side, one group winner and two runners-up.

• The four hosts will be drawn separately so there is one team in each group, while retaining their respective seedings. Thereby Araz will definitely be top seeds in the group hosted by Chrudim.

• No team can meet a club they faced in the main round, but there is no country protection, so Barcelona can play Inter FS.

• Due to a UEFA Emergency Panel decision, ISK Dina Moskva of Russia cannot play Lokomotiv Kharkiv of Ukraine.

• The four elite round group winners progress to the knockout finals which one of them will host (selected by UEFA Executive Committee on 27 January).

Seedings
Top seeds: FC Barcelona (ESP, holders)*, Kairat Almaty (KAZ)*, Araz Naxçivan (AZE), Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)*

Main round group winners: Sporting Clube de Paris (FRA, Group 1), FK Nikars Riga (LVA, 2), ISK Dina Moskva (RUS, 3), Inter FS (ESP, 4), Baku United FC (ENG, 5), MVFC Berettyóújfalu (HUN, 6)

Main round group runners-up: FK EP Chrudim (CZE, 1)*, FC Grand Pro Varna (BUL, 2), Futsal Team Charleroi (BEL, 3), Lokomotiv Kharkiv (UKR, 4), KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac (SRB, 5), Slov-Matic Bratislava (SVK, 6)

*Group hosts

Matches: 18–23 November
Four-team finals: Late April

Draw facts
• Inter are aiming to become the first four-time winners; Barcelona are aiming to join them on three titles.

• The other former winners involved, Kairat, maintain their record of appearing in the elite round every season since the current format began in 2006/07.

• Baku United and Grand Pro Varna are the only teams remaining from the preliminary round.

• Bulgaria's Varna, England's Baku and France's Sporting Paris are the first clubs from their nations to reach the elite round.

• Dina Moskva are the sole first-time entrants to reach the elite round this season.






FP Staff --> info@futsalplanet.com