Sporting Anderlecht Futsal aiming for the final four in the UEFA Futsal Champions League

The pinnacle of European Futsal is the UEFA Futsal Champions League, and the main round is the round when professional teams and the top clubs enter the competition.

While the 24 highest-ranked entrants enter at this stage, the other eight contenders came through by winning their preliminary round groups in August. Those eight are among the 16 in Path B, alongside the entering clubs ranked 13th to 16th and 21st to 25th. The four Path A groups contain the 12 highest-ranked clubs plus the teams from 17th to 20th.

Both paths are played at one-venue mini-tournaments, with 12 teams going through from Path A and four from Path B to November’s elite round, which will then decide the four contenders for the knockout finals in spring.

The competition kicked off on Tuesday, and the stand-out group for Futsal Focus is Group 1 which contains – Mallorca Palma Futsal (ESP), Kairat Almaty (KAZ), Sporting Anderlecht Futsal (BEL, hosts), Sporting Club de Paris (FRA). This is Mallorca Palma Futsal debut in the competition, whereas are past champions in 2011 and 13, Sporting Anderlecht previously entered as Halle-Gooik and reached the elite round in last year’s competition, The club finished in third place in a Group with Barcelona, SK Interobal Plzeň (Czech Republic) and FK Dobovec (Slovenia). Sporting Club de Paris has yet to reach the elite round, the only team to reach the elite round and then the Final Four from France is ACCS Futsal Club Paris VA 92. However, they were selected to join the final four when Russia was ejected from UEFA competitions due to the war in Ukraine.

Today, in Mallorca Palma Futsal opening debut match, the seventh Spanish team to play in the Champions League with the current format, went from being behind 0-3 to ending the match with a comfortable win against Sporting de Paris.

Led by Marlon, Antonio Vadillo’s men began to drive in front with De Freitas’ goal then a brace by Marlon, an own goal by Bolinha, scorer of the three initial Parisian goals, after a shot by Eloy Rojas and another by Tayebi which put the Palmesans ahead, although Saadoaui responded for Sporting.

After the break, Mallorca Palma secured victory with a resounding 7-1 result, Eloy Rojas raising his tally to four with a hat-trick by Eloy Rojas; Marlon finished his hat-trick too, Tayebi scored one more great goal, Rivillos and Mancuso did the rest. On the French side, Soumaré scored a consolation goal before the game ended.

Tomorrow comes the real test for Mallorca Palma Futsal against the Kazakhs club Kairat Almaty in which Antonio Vadillo’s men have the opportunity to win and be seeded in the Elite Round. Kairat Almaty drew their opening game today 2-2 with Sporting Anderlecht Futsal, this result may give Palma hope, but also shows they face another difficult final fixture.

Last summer, the Belgian record champions Halle-Gooik transformed intoSporting Anderlecht Futsal  (RSCA Futsal). Halle immediately moved to a brand new arena in the Belleheide Center in Roosdaal. The 1,200 seats were all filled tonight and there were quite a few Kazakhstanis responsible for the great atmosphere.

The Champions League consists of four rounds: the Preliminary Round, the Main Round, the Elite Round and the Final Four. This week RSCA will complete the Main Round in Roosdaal. The top three will advance, but only the top two will be seeded in the Elite Round draw. Anderlecht’s goal is very clear: to play in the Final Four.

With Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan, RSCA immediately hit a winner in its opening match. It has played the final of the Champions League three times in the last ten years and is currently fifth in the UEFA ranking. But with the talent Anderlecht has signed this summer, they know they could face their opponents and challenge them. At the kick-off in Roosdaal were Diego Roncaglio, the goalkeeper of the Brazilian national team, and Maximiliano Rescia, the captain of Argentina.

The Kazakhs were in charge in the opening phase, but did not score a goal. After just under five minutes, Franko Jelovcic, who didn’t kick off but quickly came in, gave RSCA the lead. With a free kick, he was in the right place to finish coolly. Almaty continued to dominate after that and claimed the ball, but Anderlecht were quite well organized and did not let themselves pass, until just before half-time. Goalkeeper Roncaglio played a lot of football and often came to the center line, but that cost him dearly. Caio Ruiz captured the ball and was able to aim into an open goal from afar. so 1-1.

The second half was spared for a long time from real opportunities that were played out, until Diogo made a great effort just past the half hour and gave RSCA a 2-1 lead. Anderlecht seemed to be on their way to the dream opener of their Champions League campaign, but the Kazakhs eagerly searched for the equalizer and also had the most chances throughout the match. In the end, this resulted in a goal from Dauren Tursagluov. He got too much space at the first post and pushed the 2-2 against the nets.

RSCA will play against Sporting Paris on Thursday, and on Saturday it will meet Palma Mallorca, each time in Roosdaal. Mallorca already won 11-5 against Paris on Wednesday.

Last summer, the Belgian record champion Halle-Gooik transformed into RSCA Futsal. Halle immediately moved to a brand new room in the Belleheide Center in Roosdaal. The 1,200 seats were all filled tonight – there were quite a few Kazakhs responsible for that, really – and the atmosphere was good.

The Champions League consists of four rounds: the Preliminary Round, the Main Round, the Elite Round and the Final Four. This week RSCA will complete the Main Round in Roosdaal. The top three will advance, but only the top two will be seeded in the Elite Round draw. Anderlecht’s goal is very clear: to play in the Final Four.

With Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan, RSCA immediately hit a winner in its opening match. It has played the final of the Champions League three times in the last ten years and is currently fifth in the UEFA ranking. Anderlecht can do something about that. At the kick-off in Roosdaal were Diego Roncaglio, the goalkeeper of the Brazilian national team, and Maximiliano Rescia, the captain of Argentina.

The Kazakhs were in charge in the opening phase but did not score a goal. After just under five minutes, Franko Jelovcic, who didn’t kick off but quickly came in, gave RSCA the lead. With a free kick, he was in the right place to finish coolly. Almaty continued to dominate after that and claimed the ball, but Anderlecht was quite well organized and did not let themselves pass, until just before half-time. Goalkeeper Roncaglio played a lot of football and often came to the center line, but that cost him dearly. Caio Ruiz captured the ball and was able to aim into an open goal from afar. so 1-1.

The second half was spared for a long time from real opportunities that were played out until Diogo made a great effort just past the half-hour and gave RSCA a 2-1 lead. Anderlecht seemed to be on their way to the dream opener of their Champions League campaign, but the Kazakhs eagerly searched for the equalizer and also had the most chances throughout the match. In the end, this resulted in a goal from Dauren Tursagluov. He got too much space at the first post and pushed the 2-2 against the nets.

RSCA will play against Sporting Paris on Thursday, and on Saturday they will meet Palma Mallorca, each time in Roosdaal.

The rest of the groups are:

Path A

Top three teams in each group progress to the elite round:

• Group 2 (26–29 October): Sporting CP (POR), Ayat (KAZ), Novo Vrijeme Makarska (CRO, hosts), Futsal Pula (CRO)
• Group 3 (26–29 October): Barça (ESP, holders), Dobovec (SVN), Hovocubo (NED), Luxol St. Andrews (MLT, hosts)
• Group 4 (26–29 October): Benfica (POR), Uragan lvano-Frankivsk* (UKR), Haladás (HUN), United Galati (ROU, hosts)

Path B

Group winners progress to elite round

• Group 5 (26–29 October): Mostar SG (BIH, hosts), Araz Naxçivan (AZE), Loznica-Grad 2018 (SRB), Örebro (SWE)
• Group 6 (25–28 October): Stalitsa Minsk (BLR), Liqeni (KOS, hosts), JB Futsal Gentofte (DEN), Piast Gliwice (POL)
• Group 7 (26–29 October): Kauno Žalgiris (LTU, hosts), Città di Eboli (ITA), Petro-w (LVA), Kampuksen Dynamo (FIN)
• Group 8 (26–29 October): Chrudim (CZE), Shkupi 1927 (MKD, hosts), Differdange (LUX), Lučenec (SVK)

(Main picture: Geert Tresignie)

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