Who progressed from the preliminary round stage of the UEFA Futsal EURO 2022?

The preliminary rounds are over for the UEFA Futsal EURO 2022 and it was a tough stage for the nations of the British Isles. Northern Ireland and Scotland failed to progress finishing bottom of their respective groups. Wales, on the other hand, missed out on a place by a narrow margin. Whereas, England have another chance to progress with a place in the play-offs.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Poland, Albania, Hungary, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, and Norway booked places in next year’s home-and-away UEFA Futsal EURO 2022 qualifying group stage after topping their qualifying round groups.

The road to UEFA Futsal EURO 2022, which has a new format and an expanded 16-team final tournament in the Netherlands, began with the qualifying round running over the last four days.

Hoping to join the nine group winners are 14 other sides who have reached April’s qualifying play-offs: runners-up Cyprus, Armenia, Greece, San Marino, Lithuania, Germany, Denmark, Israel, and North Macedonia plus the five best third-placed teams – Bulgaria, England, Turkey, Switzerland, and Montenegro (who pipped Wales due to their superior coefficient after both were equal on all other criteria including disciplinary record). The play-off draw is on 13 February.

Results

• Group winners progress directly to the qualifying group stage (played home and away in 2021) to join 16 teams in FIFA Futsal World Cup elite round given byes: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal (holders), Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Ukraine
• The nine runners-up and five best third-placed teams (not counting results against fourth-placed teams) enter the qualifying play-offs in April for the remaining seven qualifying group spots

Final standings

Group A
Through to qualifying group stage: Bosnia and Herzegovina (hosts)
Through to play-offs: Cyprus, Switzerland*
Also in the group: Gibraltar

Group B
Through to qualifying group stage: Belgium (hosts)
Through to play-offs: Armenia, Montenegro*
Also in the group: Scotland

Group C
Through to qualifying group stage: Poland
Through to play-offs: Greece
Also in the group: Sweden, Malta (hosts)

Group D
Through to qualifying group stage: Albania
Through to play-offs: San Marino, Bulgaria (hosts)*
Also in the group: Andorra

Group E
Through to qualifying group stage: Hungary
Through to play-offs: Lithuania (hosts), Turkey*
Also in the group: Northern Ireland

Group F
Through to qualifying group stage: Georgia (hosts)
Through to play-offs: Germany
Also in the group: Kosovo, Austria

Group G
Through to qualifying group stage: Latvia (hosts)
Through to play-offs: Denmark
Also in the group: Estonia

Group H
Through to qualifying group stage: Moldova (hosts)
Through to play-offs: Israel, England*

Group I
Through to qualifying group stage: Norway
Through to play-offs: North Macedonia (hosts)
Also in the group: Wales

*Five third-placed teams with the best record against the top two in their group

• San Marino advanced through a round of UEFA national-team competition for the first time at any level (football or futsal)
• Malta, San Marino and Scotland all recorded their first competitive futsal points
• Austria and Northern Ireland made their debuts (in a record entry of 50 nations)

Road to the Netherlands
Finals hosts: Netherlands
New format explained
Qualifying round play-off draw: 13 February 2020, Nyon
Qualifying round play-offs: April 2020
Qualifying group stage draw: 14 May 2020, Nyon
Qualifying group stage matchdays 1 & 2: February 2021
Qualifying group stage matchdays 3 & 4: April 2021
Qualifying group stage matchdays 5 & 6: September 2021
Play-off draw: September 2021, Nyon
Play-offs: October 2021
Final tournament draw: late 2021, tbc
Final tournament: 19 January–6 February 2022, Netherlands

Main picture: Belgium FA

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