Five candidates for FIFA Futsal World Championship 2004
ZURICH, Switzerland (Oct. 29, 2002) - FIFA Headquarters in Zurich played
host Oct. 28 to this year’s first meeting of the FIFA Futsal Committee, under the
chairmanship of Ricardo Teixeira Terra (Brazil). The members were informed that five
national associations had submitted bids to host the fifth FIFA Futsal World Championship,
scheduled for 2004. The list of candidates, in the order in which FIFA received the bids,
is: Bahrain, Thailand, Egypt, Paraguay and Iran.
These national associations now have until 30 November 2002 to either confirm or withdraw their bids, and until 20 December 2002 to submit the bid documentation and the signed Organisation Association Agreement (OAA) to FIFA.
The Futsal Committee will then nominate a national association and submit its proposal
to the Executive Committee, which will reach a final decision regarding the host nation in
the early months of 2003.
The previous four FIFA Futsal World Championships have been held in the
Netherlands (1989), Hong Kong (1992), Spain (1996), and Guatemala (2000). Brazil won the
first three tournaments, with Spain claiming the title in 2000.
FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter was also present at the meeting and declared that it was
a positive sign that five national associations had applied to host the tournament.
“This is concrete proof that Futsal is becoming ever more popular and
attractive,” commented Blatter. “In recent years, this sport has made great
progress across the board, and that delights me.”
With a view to preparing the FIFA member national associations for their qualifying
tournaments, the Development Division of world football’s governing body has started
work on an ambitious project to develop training material for Futsal coaches and referees.
Draft copies of this training material were presented to the committee members, with the
project due to be completed in early 2003.
The next FIFA Futsal World Championship will also be a reflection of
FIFA’s efforts to unite the Futsal family, as the Futsal regulations in a number of
national associations still differ. FIFA’s Futsal experts will now carefully revise
these regulations and their application guidelines, particularly for countries in which
the necessary amendments have not yet been completed.
FIFA also intends to ask the national associations to complete a survey that will not only
record the exact number of countries in which Futsal is played, but also the number of
active players. This survey will then give further weight to calls for Futsal to be
included in the 2008 Olympic Games in Peking.
- Steve Torres, U.S. Soccer Communications