Courtesy: UEFA.com


UEFA Futsal Cup record entry confirmed

A record 56 clubs have entered the UEFA Futsal Cup for 2017/18, and all will be involved in the preliminary and main round draws at 14:00CET on Thursday 6 July.

Friday 30 June 2017

A record 56 clubs have entered the UEFA Futsal Cup for 2017/18 and, under new format, all will be involved in the preliminary and main round draws at 14:00CET on Thursday 6 July.

For the first time four nations (Russia, Spain, Portugal and Italy) are entering two clubs and no teams receive byes to the elite round. The 24 clubs with the highest coefficients receive byes to the main round while the other 32 start in the preliminary round

Full coefficient rankings

Preliminary round (22 to 27 August)
• Eight groups of four.
• Every group will contain one side each from the four seeding pots, ranked by coefficient.
• Eight clubs, including six of the 19 newcomers starting in the preliminary round, have been pre-selected as mini-tournament hosts and will be drawn separately before being placed in their appropriate seeding position.
• The eight group winners go through.
• Due to a decision of the UEFA Emergency Committee, clubs from Kosovo cannot be drawn with teams from Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore SG Mostar (BIH) cannot be drawn in the same group as FC Liburn (KOS), who would be moved to the next available slot.
• Northern Ireland are entering a club for the first time, to be decided when their national competition is completed in July.


Main round (10 to 15 October)

Path A
• Holders Inter FS, the next 11 top-ranked clubs and the teams ranked 16th to 19th will be involved in this path.
• Among the teams involved are two more debutants: Braga/AAUM of Portugal and Ukraine's MFC Kherson.
• Also in this path are former winners Kairat Almaty, Barcelona and FC Dynamo and 2017 runners-up Sporting CP.
• As in the previous draw, sides will be allocated one of four seeding positions and four clubs have been designated as hosts and will be drawn separately, while maintaining their seeding positions. There is no country protection.
• Due to a decision of the UEFA Emergency Committee, clubs from Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot meet. Thus the winners of the preliminary round group involving Leo Futsal Club (ARM) cannot be drawn into the group with Araz Naxçivan (AZE).
• The top three teams in each of the four groups progress to the elite round.

Path B
• The teams ranked 12th to 15th and 20th to 23rd will be joined by the eight preliminary round winners.
• French debutants Garges Djibson will enter in this round.
• As in the previous draw, sides will be allocated one of four seeding positions and four clubs have been designated as hosts and will be drawn separately, while maintaining their seeding positions.
• Due to a decision of the UEFA Emergency Committee, clubs from Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot meet. Thus the winners of the preliminary round group involving Leo Futsal Club (ARM) cannot be drawn into the group with Araz Naxçivan (AZE).
• The winners of each of the four groups progress to the elite round.


Elite round & Final tournament
• The 16 clubs will compete in four groups of four, drawn on 19 October.
• The four group winners in November will progress to the final tournament in April, with the hosts picked from among the qualifiers.


Calendar
Preliminary & main round draw: 6 July
Preliminary round: 22–27 August
Main round: 10–15 October
Elite round draw: 19 October
Elite round: 21–26 November
Finals draw: tbc
Finals: 19 or 20 & 21 or 22 April

2017/18 entrants
*debutants

Preliminary round

Pot 1 – hosts
Anorthosis Famagusta (CYP, position 1)*
Mostar SG (BIH, 1)*
IFK Uddevalla (SWE, 2)*
Sjamtrollan Idrettslag (NOR, 3)*
København Futsal (DEN, 3)
Diamant Linz (AUT, 3)*
Differdange 03 (LUX, 4)
Futsal Minerva (SUI, 4)*

Pot 2 – seeding position 4
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)*
Tre Fiori (SMR)
Narva United (EST)*
Wrexham Futsal Club (WAL)
TMT Futsal Club (SCO)*
tbc (NIR)*

Pot 3 – seeding position 3
Leo Futsal Club (ARM)*
Transylvania FC Dublin (IRL)*
FC Encamp (ARM)
FK Vytis (LTU)*
Arnavutköy Belediye Spor (TUR)*

Pot 4 – seeding position 2
Transylvania FC Dublin (MNE)
't Knooppunt (NED)*
Doukas SAC (GRE)*
Classic Chisinau (MDA)
Luxol St Andrews (MLT)
Lynx FC (GIB)

Pot 5 – seeding position 1
KMF Shkupi 1927 (MKD)*
Levski Sofia West (BUL)
Helvécia Futsal London (ENG)
Record Bielsko-Biała (POL)
SSV Jahn 1889 Regensburg (GER)*
Flamurtari Vlorë (ALB)
FC Liburn (KOS)*


Main round

Path B

Pot 6 – hosts
Slovan Bratislava (SVK, position 1)
Nacional Zagreb (CRO, 1)
Sievi FS (FIN, 2)
FC Deva (ROU, 2)

Pot 7 – seeding positions 3 and 4
Preliminary round winners Groups A to H

Pot 8 – seeding position 2
Garges Djibson (FRA)*
Georgians (GEO)

Pot 9 – seeding position1
Araz Naxçivan (AZE)
Halle-Gooik (BEL)


Path A

Pot 10 – hosts
Ekonomac Kragujevac (SRB, position 2)
Luparense (ITA, 4)
Brezje Maribor (SVN, 4)
Stalitsa Minsk (BLR, 4)

Pot 11 – seeding positions 4
MFC Kherson (UKR)*

Pot 12 – seeding position 3
Nikars Riga (LVA)
Pescara (ITA)
Braga/AUUM (POR)*
Győr (HUN)

Pot 13 – seeding position 2
Dina Moskva (RUS)
FC Dynamo (RUS)
EP Chrudim (CZE)

Pot 14 – seeding position 1
Inter FS (ESP, holders)
Kairat Almaty (KAZ)
Sporting CP (POR)
Barcelona (ESP)



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com