2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup

2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup
Pasaulio Salės Futbolo Čempionatas (Lithuanian); Lithuania 2021
Tournament details
Host country	Lithuania
Dates	12 September – 3 October
Teams	24 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Portugal (1st title)
Runners-up	Argentina
Third place	Brazil
Fourth place	Kazakhstan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	301 (5.79 per match)
Attendance	63,748 (1,226 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ferrão; (9 goals)
Best player(s)	Ricardinho
Best goalkeeper	Nicolás Sarmiento
Fair play award	Kazakhstan
	← 2016 2024 →

The 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was held in Lithuania.^[1] It marked the first FIFA tournament ever hosted by Lithuania and the third Futsal World Cup hosted in Europe; the others being 1989 in the Netherlands and 1996 in Spain.

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from 12 September to 4 October 2020 as the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup.^[2] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FIFA announced on 3 April 2020 that a decision would be made whether the tournament would be postponed and rescheduled.^[3] On 12 May 2020, FIFA announced that the tournament would be held between 12 September and 3 October 2021, subject to further monitoring.^[4]^[5]

In the final, Portugal defeated the defending champions Argentina 2–1 to win their first World Cup title. They became the fourth team to win the competition, the second from Europe after Spain's triumphs in 2000 and 2004.

Host selection

The following countries bid for the tournament:^[6]

Costa Rica
Croatia
Iran
Japan
Kazakhstan
Lithuania
New Zealand
United Arab Emirates

The eight bidders represent the highest ever for the FIFA Futsal World Cup. Since none of these countries have ever hosted the event before, the tournament will be heading to a new location, later shortlisted to four. The Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, the Netherlands and the United States expressed interest but eventually did not bid.^[7]^[8]

The host were originally to be appointed by December 2016,^[9] then delayed to December 2017.^[10] Costa Rica, Croatia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates were later eliminated from contention.

The hosts were selected by the FIFA Council on 26 October 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda from the final four candidates: Iran, Japan, Lithuania and New Zealand.^[11] Lithuania was chosen over Iran, Japan and New Zealand as host for the 2020 edition.

Qualification

A total of 24 teams from six separate continental competitions qualified for the final tournament, in addition to hosts Lithuania. The slot allocation was approved by the FIFA Council on 10 June 2018.^[12]

Confederation	Qualified through	Team	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
AFC (Asia) (5 teams)	Three teams nominated by AFC, two teams determined by play-offs (Original championship cancelled)^[13]	Iran	8th	2016	Third place (2016)
		Japan	5th	2012	Round of 16 (2012)
		Uzbekistan	2nd	2016	Group stage (2016)
		Thailand	6th	2016	Round of 16 (2012, 2016)
		Vietnam	2nd	2016	Round of 16 (2016)
CAF (Africa) (3 teams)	2020 Africa Futsal Cup of Nations	Angola	1st	N/A	Debut
		Egypt	7th	2016	Quarter-finals (2016)
		Morocco	3rd	2016	Group stage (2012, 2016)
CONCACAF (Central, North America and Caribbean) (4 teams)	2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championship
		Costa Rica	5th	2016	Round of 16 (2016)
		Guatemala	5th	2016	Group stage (2000, 2008, 2012, 2016)
		Panama	3rd	2016	Round of 16 (2012)
		United States	6th	2008	Runners-up (1992)
CONMEBOL (South America) (4 teams)	2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)	Argentina	9th	2016	Champions (2016)
		Brazil	9th	2016	Champions (1989, 1992, 1996, 2008, 2012)
		Paraguay	7th	2016	Quarter-finals (2016)
		Venezuela	1st	N/A	Debut
OFC (Oceania) (1 team)	2019 OFC Futsal Nations Cup	Solomon Islands	4th	2016	Group stage (2008, 2012, 2016)
UEFA (Europe) (Hosts + 6 teams)	Host nation	Lithuania	1st	N/A	Debut
	2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification (UEFA)	Kazakhstan	3rd	2016	Round of 16 (2016)
		Portugal	6th	2016	Third place (2000)
		RFU^{[Note RUS]}	7th	2016	Runners-up (2016)
		Spain	9th	2016	Champions (2000, 2004)
		Czech Republic	4th	2012	Round of 16 (2012)
		Serbia	2nd	2012	Round of 16 (2012)

^
Note RUS: In accordance with the ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency and a December 2020 decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the team from Russia participated at the tournament as neutral athletes of the Russian Football Union (RFU) and used the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Venues

Lithuania presented three cities – Vilnius (Avia Solutions Group Arena), Kaunas (Žalgiris Arena) and Klaipėda (Švyturys Arena) in their bid to host the event. During press conference on 22 November 2018 it was revealed that the Lithuanian Football Federation would like to expand number of host cities with up to 3 additional locations. Šiauliai (Šiauliai Arena), Panevėžys (Cido Arena) and Alytus (Alytus Arena) were named as additional candidates and are currently awaiting for a FIFA delegates inspection to determine their suitability.^[14] Further negotiations should resume in February 2019.^[15] An inspection was done on 10 May 2019 on all five potential host cities: Vilnius (Siemens Arena), Kaunas (Žalgiris Arena), Klaipėda (Švyturys Arena), Šiauliai (Šiauliai Arena) and Panevėžys (Cido Arena).^[16]

The final decision was made on 16 October 2019, it will be staged in three cities: Vilnius (Avia Solutions Group Arena), Kaunas (Žalgiris Arena) and Klaipėda (Švyturys Arena).^[17] Šiauliai (Šiauliai Arena) and Panevėžys (Cido Arena) were left out due to accommodation hotel concerns.

Vilnius	Kaunas	Klaipėda
Avia Solutions Group Arena	Žalgiris Arena	Švyturys Arena
Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 13,807	Capacity: 6,200

Vilnius Kaunas Klaipėda

Marketing

The Emblem was launched on 17 January 2020 at the MO Museum in Vilnius.^[18]

The emblem highlights two of Lithuania's proudest features: its natural resources and technological expertise. The base of the emblem represents the country's lush, green landscape, decorated with oak leaves. A symbol of strength, the native oak has been venerated in Lithuania for centuries. Following the lines of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Trophy, oaks give way to farmland and meadows in the colours of the Lithuanian flag. The prominence given to the landscape highlights Lithuania's commitment to the preservation of its natural heritage.

The top half of the emblem is inspired by Lithuania's modern technological industries. Lasers shoot skywards towards a stylised futsal pitch as a reminder of the country's accomplishments in the science and high-tech industries.

On 21 September 2020, Ivartito, a stork (which is the national bird of Lithuania since 1973), was unveiled as the official mascot.^[19]

Draw

The official draw was held on 1 June 2021, 17:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland.^[20]^[21] The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams. The hosts Lithuania were automatically seeded into Pot 1 and assigned to position A1, while the remaining teams were seeded into their respective pots based on their results in the last five FIFA Futsal World Cups (more recent tournaments weighted more heavily), with bonus points awarded to confederation champions. No group could contain more than one team from each confederation, except there would be one group with two UEFA teams due to there being seven UEFA teams in total.^[22]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Lithuania (assigned to A1) Spain Brazil Argentina RFU Portugal	Iran Paraguay Egypt Costa Rica Thailand Czech Republic	Solomon Islands Japan Guatemala Kazakhstan Serbia Panama	Morocco Vietnam United States Uzbekistan Angola Venezuela

Match officials

The following officials were chosen for the tournament.^[23] For the very first time in a FIFA international tournament, the Video Support (VS) was implemented

Confederation	Referees
AFC	Hussain Ali Al-Bahhar
	Fahad Badir Ali Mohamed Alhosani
	Nurdin Bukuev
	Ryan Shepheard
	Tomohiro Kozaki
	Ran An
	Ebrahim Mehrabi Afshar
	Gelareh Nazemi Deylami
CAF	Tarek Elkhataby
	Mohamed Youssef
	Khalid Hnich
	Aymen Kammoun
CONCACAF	Roberto Enrique López Fernández
	Ronny Castro Zumbado
	Jorge Flores
	Carlos González
	Diego Molina López
	Josh Wilkens

Confederation	Referees
CONMEBOL	Cristian Espindola
	Valeria Palma
	María Estefanía Pinto
	Daniel Rodríguez
	Dario Santamaria
	Gean Telles
	Henry Gutiérrez
	Carlos Martínez
OFC	Anthony Riley
OFC	Chris Sinclair
UEFA	Juan José Cordero Gallardo
	Ondřej Černý
	Gábor Kovács
	Eduardo Fernandes
	Alejandro Martínez Flores
	Daniel Matković
	Chiara Perona
	Cédric Pelissier
	Irina Velikanova
	Nikola Jelić
	Borislav Kolev (support)

Squads

Each team has to name a preliminary squad of a maximum of 25 players (3 of whom must be goalkeepers). From the preliminary squad, the team has to name a final squad of 14 players (two of whom must be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad can be replaced by a player from the preliminary squad due to serious injury or illness up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match.^[24]

Group stage

The schedule of the competition was released on 30 April 2021.^[25]

The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advance to the round of 16.

Tiebreakers

The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows:^[24]

points obtained in all group matches;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:

points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
- Yellow card: −1 points;
- Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
- Direct red card: −4 points;
- Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.

All times are local, EEST (UTC+3).^[26]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kazakhstan	3	2	1	0	10	2	+8	7	Advance to the knockout stage
2	Venezuela	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Advance to the knockout stage
3	Costa Rica	3	1	0	2	7	9	−2	3
4	Lithuania (H)	3	0	0	3	3	11	−8	0

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

12 September 2021

18:00

Kazakhstan	6–1	Costa Rica
Yessenamanov 10' Tursagulov 11' Douglas Jr. 14' Taynan 17', 27' Orazov 27'	Report	Rodríguez 12'

Žalgiris Arena, Kaunas

Attendance: 950

Referee: Mohamed Hassan Ahmed Youssef (Egypt)

12 September 2021