NEWS
Northern Ireland - June 15, 2024 10:00Women’s futsal team to compete in World Cup qualifiersUpdate from Northern IrelandCourtesy: Northern Irish FA

Cover Photo: the senior women’s futsal squad that faced Belgium back in April (Courtesy: Northern Ireland FA)

Northern Ireland’s senior women’s futsal team will be competing in qualifiers for the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup this autumn.

European qualifying for the World Cup – it is being staged in the Philippines next year (exact dates TBC) – will consist of a main round in the autumn and an elite round next spring.

Northern Ireland will be competing in the main round between 15 and 20 October. They have been drawn in Group 3, one of six groups in stage one.

In the main round 24 teams will compete, while top European seeds Portugal and Spain will enter at the elite round stage.

Only group winners at stage one will qualify for the elite round, which will feature two groups of four, including the Portuguese and Spanish. From there four teams will qualify for the inaugural 16-team World Cup tournament.

The top seeds in Northern Ireland’s main round group are Hungary, who have reached the Women’s Futsal Euros final tournament over the past two years.

Second seeds in Group 3 are Czechia, who will host the four-team mini tournament this autumn, while Northern Ireland are third seeds.

The fourth seeds in the group are France, who will be making their competitive debut in the World Cup qualifiers.

Keith Gibson, manager of the Northern Ireland senior women’s futsal team, said: “Due to recent good results we found ourselves in Pot 3 when the draw was made for the main round. The draw wasn’t exactly kind to us as both Hungary and Czechia are very strong teams.

“France have only had a team for two years, but they have been very impressive in friendlies to date. As they hadn’t previously played in qualifiers they found themselves in Pot 4 in the draw. We feel a bit hard done by to have been drawn against them to be honest.

“However, it is fantastic that FIFA has launched the Futsal Women’s World Cup and we are really looking forward to the challenge.”

Preparations for stage one of the qualifiers in October will begin with two development friendlies against England Deaf Futsal.

Back in April the Northern Ireland senior women’s futsal team registered their best win to date when they defeated Belgium in a friendly.

The women’s team faced the Belgians in two challenge matches at Newry Leisure Centre.

Belgium, ranked 12th in Europe, won the first game 5-1, however Northern Ireland turned on the style on matchday two and registered a superb 4-1 win.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
KeywordSearch in Title and DescriptionSearchClearPages : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
International CompetitionsEuropean Universities Futsal Championship 2025March 09, 2025 09:00
International CompetitionsCopa Intercontinental de SeleçõesMarch 04, 2025 09:00
USAUS Women's Futsal National Team February 20, 2025 11:00
International CompetitionsCONCACAF Women's Futsal ChampionshipsFebruary 19, 2025 18:00
International Competitions3 Nations Tournament Under 19 - Las Rozas de Madrid 2025February 17, 2025 01:00
International CompetitionsInaugural Concacaf Women's Futsal ChampionshipFebruary 13, 2025 15:00
MyanmarMyanmar: new head coachFebruary 08, 2025 15:00
International CompetitionsThree Nations Women's Tournament - Vila do Conde 2025February 08, 2025 14:00
International CompetitionsAFC Women’s Futsal Asian CupFebruary 06, 2025 08:00
International CompetitionsCAFA Women’s Futsal Championship 2025February 05, 2025 09:00
International CompetitionsAFC Women’s Futsal Asian CupJanuary 31, 2025 09:00
International CompetitionsWomen Futsal Africa Cup of Nations - Morocco 2025January 29, 2025 21:00
Pages : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
FOLLOW US
Facebook
FutsalPlanet© 2018/2024