UEFA Futsal Euro 2026

The 2026 UEFA Futsal Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Futsal Euro 2026, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Futsal Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship organised by UEFA for the men's national teams of Europe.

This was the second tournament to be held on a four-year basis after 2022. It took place between 21 January and 7 February 2026.^[1] The tournament was supposed to be held solely in Latvia and Lithuania, but due to their unwillingness to accommodate Belarus, UEFA added Slovenia as a third co-host as the Slovenians agreed to hosting the Belarusian team.^[2][3] This marked the first time the Futsal Euro was co-hosted and the first UEFA tournament to have three nations hosting (excluding UEFA Euro 2020 as twelve cities across Europe hosted the event). This was the first time a senior UEFA national team tournament was held in the Baltics.

For the second time after the expansion in 2022, 16 teams took part. Qualification took place between April 2024 and September 2025. The original two co-hosts, Latvia and Lithuania, qualified automatically, becoming the first host nations to make their debut at the same tournament they are hosting. Armenia also made their debut.

Portugal were the two-time defending champions after previously winning in 2018 and 2022. Spain won their eighth title after beating Portugal 5–3 in the final in Ljubljana. Croatia won their first ever medal after beating France in the third place play off on penalties.

The bidding procedure for hosting was launched in 2022, with a deadline of January 2023 to express their interest in hosting. UEFA requirements states the host country needs to have two arena, one with a spectator capacity of at least 7,500 and the other with at least 4,500.^[4]

The final proposal had to delivered with the bid dossier in May 2023 at the latest, and UEFA received four bids:^[4]

•  Belgium and  France
•  Finland
•  Latvia
•  Lithuania

Soon after, Belgium and France became two separate bids, while Latvia and Lithuania merged their bids.

•  Belgium
•  France
•  Finland
•  Latvia and  Lithuania

On 2 December 2023, Latvia and Lithuania were awarded the hosting rights in Hamburg, Germany.^[5][6]

However, problems emerged with the hosting arrangement after Belarus qualified, with neither country willing to host them due to the Russo-Ukrainian war.^[7][8] Latvia had stated that they were ready to relinquish their hosting rights if they had to host Belarus.^[9] UEFA was supposed to make a decision in May 2025 but it was delayed.^[10] On 27 June 2025, Slovenia were added as a third co-host, with two venues in Ljubljana.^[3] Lithuanian Football Federation general secretary, Edgaras Stankevičius, stated he supports the hosting system.^[11] The plan was approved by the Slovenian government as well.^[12][13] Belarus and Kazakhstan also stated an interest in hosting the event.^[14][15] The arrangement was very similar to the India and Pakistan cricket arrangement where neither side can play a world cup in the other country, so a neutral venue had to be found. Arena Stožice and Tivoli Arena were selected by Slovenia.

• On 22 October, UEFA representatives went to observe Lithuania's preparations for the second time.^[16]

• On 30 September, Slovenia's official website was released.^[17]
• On 17 October, Slovenian captain, Igor Osredkar, and former Slovenian football international, Bojan Jokić, were revealed as Slovenia's ambassadors.^[18][19]
• On 24 October, on the day of the draw, Slovenia set up a countdown clock for the tournament.^[20]
• Lithuanian boxer, Eimantas Stanionis, was announced as Lithuania's ambassador.^[21]
• On 27 October, a newly designed trophy for the Futsal Euro was shown for the first time.^[22]
• On 3 December, a press conference between president of the Slovenian Football Association, Radenko Mijatovic, and the deputy mayor of the Ljubljana Municipality, Samo Logar, took place in Ljubljana.^[23]
• On 5 December, the process of media accreditation in Lithuania was opened, with the deadline being the 7 January 2026.^[24]
• On 22 December, an event in the Domina shopping centre in Riga took place.^[25][26]

• On 9 January, the process of media accreditation in Latvia was opened.^[27]
• On 12 January, UEFA announced that each host country will have a unique court based on their national colours.^[28][29]

On 27 October at 12:00 CET, tickets sales started.^[30][31] The tickets were split into categories 1 and 2, priced at 20 and 15 Euros respectively.

• Tickets for Riga, Latvia
• Tickets for Kaunas, Lithuania
• Tickets for Ljubljana, Slovenia

• Adidas
• Alipay
• Atos
• Carlsberg
• Hisense
• Visit Qatar
• Dana (in Slovenia)
• Eventim (in Slovenia)

A total 48 teams took part in qualification. After the preliminary round, 40 teams were divided into ten groups of four, held in a round-robin home-and-away format. The group winners secure qualification while the best eight runners-up advanced to the play-offs. The eight play-off teams were split into four separate ties. The four winners of the play-offs took the final four spots. Qualification was held between 9 April 2024 and 24 September 2025.

Of the sixteen teams, only 8 took part in 2022. Co-hosts Latvia and Lithuania automatically qualified and debuted, marking the first time that the host nations made their debut at the same tournament they hosted. From the qualification process, Armenia qualified for the first time, with the Armenians qualifying for a UEFA tournament for the first time ever. Regarding the returnees, Belarus made their second appearance after 2010, 2014 hosts Belgium qualified after failing to make it since that year, Czech Republic and Hungary secured their passage after a 10-year absence and France progressed after a one edition drought.

Regarding the absentees, the most notable teams are Kazakhstan and former champions Russia. The Kazakhs have reached the knockout stage of the last six major tournaments but due to new rules regarding naturalized players, their squad was weakened during qualification, leading to them missing out after losing their play-off tie against Italy on penalties. The Russians did take part for the first time due to UEFA's ban after the country's invasion of Ukraine. Perennial participants, Azerbaijan, also failed to qualify for the first time since 2007 after coming bottom of their qualification group. 2022 hosts and 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup participants, Netherlands, could not make it after finishing as the one of the worst runner-ups, being the first team since Belgium in 2016 to not qualify after hosting. Serbia failed to advance after making the previous three editions. Having made their debut in the previous edition, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland and Slovakia all failed to qualify, leaving Georgia as the only team who managed to do so.

The highest ranked team to fail to qualify was 8th, Kazakhstan^[A] while Belgium^[B] was the lowest ranked team to make it ranked 34th.

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

The tournament was held at four venues, with two in Ljubljana and one each in Riga and Kaunas.^[3] Before Slovenia's inclusion, the final was planned to be in Riga.^[35][36] The opening match was in Riga.^[37] The final was at Arena Stožice in Ljubljana. Latvia and Lithuania each hosted one group and a quarterfinal, while Slovenia hosted two groups and the remaining knockout stage matches. With UEFA not allowing arenas to include sponsors in their names, the Xiaomi Arena was changed to its original name, Arena Riga, for the tournament. Ljubljana became the first city to host two UEFA Futsal Euros.

• Ljubljana's Arena Stožice is Slovenia's biggest arena. Built in 2010, it has since hosted EuroBasket 2013, UEFA Futsal Euro 2018, 2019 Men's European Volleyball Championship, 2022 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship, 2022 European Women's Handball Championship and EuroBasket Women 2023.^[38]

• The Žalgiris Arena in Kaunas is the largest arena in the Baltics. The venue has held EuroBasket 2011 and the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup.^[39]

• The Arena Riga is Latvia's biggest indoor venue. Based in Riga, it has hosted various events including: EuroBasket in 2015 and 2025, the EuroBasket Women in 2009 and 2019, IIHF World Championship in 2006, 2021 and 2023 and the 2016 Men's World Floorball Championships.^[40][41]

• The Tivoli Arena in Ljubljana has organised the 2004 European Men's Handball Championship and EuroBasket 2013. Before Slovenian independence, it also held various championships as Yugoslavia. The facility is primarily used for ice hockey.^[38]

The draw was held at 12:00 EET on 24 October 2025 at the Žalgiris Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania.^{[42][43][44][45]} Lithuanian presenter, Gabrielė Martirosian hosted the draw. The guests were Portuguese futsal legend, Ricardinho and Lithuanian professional boxer and tournament ambassador Eimantas Stanionis, who assisted with the draw. Before the draw started, co-hosts Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia were all pre-allocated into positions A1, B1 and C1 in each of their groups respectively. The draw started with, in order, pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the schedule).

There were two restrictions on the draw. Firstly, Belarus had to be drawn in a group held in Slovenia due to domestic laws in Latvia and Lithuania which prohibit matches involving Belarusian teams to be played in their countries. Secondly, Ukraine had to be drawn into a group held in Latvia and Lithuania to avoid playing Belarus as far into the tournament as possible (if the scenario does happen).

The seeding was based on the UEFA men's futsal national team coefficient rankings as of 26 September 2025.^[46]

Each national team had to submit a squad of 14 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers. During the tournament, each team was allowed to replace a maximum of one outfield player if they were injured or ill preventing them from participating in the tournament. Each team was also allowed to temporarily replace a goalkeeper if there were fewer than two healthy goalkeepers.^[47]

A total of 32 referees and four referee observers were selected for the tournament. They were split into two groups – one for matches in Latvia and Lithuania, and one for matches in Slovenia.^[48]

Each match was officiated by a team of four referees and a timekeeper. Any referee may be one of the two referees on the pitch, the third referee, the fourth referee, or the timekeeper.

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals. The schedule was announced after the draw by UEFA.^[49]

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 20.01 and 20.02):^[47]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
8. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
9. UEFA coefficient ranking for the final draw.

All times are local.^[50][51] Latvia and Lithuania use EET (UTC+2) and Slovenia uses CET (UTC+1).

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where extra time was not played but instead a direct penalty shoot-out was used.

There were 183 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 5.72 goals per match.

7 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: UEFA

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.

The all-star team was announced on 9 February.^[84]

The player of the tournament was announced on 7 February.^[85]

A man of the match award was given to the player deemed as playing the best in each match.^[86]

• Highest attended game: 8,126 (Portugal 3–5 Spain, 7 February)
• Lowest attended game: 300 Spain 10–3 Belgium, 29 January)
• Most goals in a game: 13 (Spain 10–3 Belgium, 29 January)
• Least goals in a game: 2 (Belarus 0–2 Spain, 26 January)
• Most goals by a team in a game: 10 (Spain 10–3 Belgium, 29 January)
• Least goals by a team in a game: 0 (Seven games)^[F]
• Biggest goal difference in a game: 7 (Spain 10–3 Belgium, 29 January)
• Biggest half time deficit in a game: 3 (Slovenia 0–4 Spain, 23 January)
• Most goals scored by a player in a game: 3 goals ( Omar Rahou vs Belarus, 23 January; Julio De Oliveira vs Poland, 24 January; Souheil Mouhoudine vs Ukraine, 31 January; Ouassini Guirio vs Croatia, 7 February; Antonio Pérez vs Portugal, 7 February)

• On 21 January, Latvia became the first hosts since Serbia in 2016 to win their opening game.
• On 22 January, at 18 years and 69 days old, Ukrainian player, Illia Prykhodko became the youngest player to appear at the finals.^[87]
• On 24 January, at 19 years and 168 days old, Polish player, Kacper Pawlus, became the youngest player to score at the finals, after scoring Poland's first goal in a 4–2 defeat to Hungary.^[87]
• On 26 January, at 40 years and 209 days old, Belgian player, Gréllo, became the oldest player to score at the finals, after scoring Belgium's first goal in a 5–4 defeat to Slovenia.^[87]
• On 29 January, Spain's 10–3 win over Belgium broke the record for most goals by a team in one match at the Euro.^[87] In the same match, Omar Rahou tied the competition record of 6 goals in the group stage.^[87]
• Armenia, Belarus, France, Hungary and Latvia won their first games at the finals.
• Belgium were condemned to their worst loss at the final tournament.
• Armenia became the first debutant since Azerbaijan in 2010 to win their group.

On 2 December, the broadcasting rights were announced.^[88][89] For countries with no stated broadcasting rights, matches were broadcast on UEFA.tv.

• Official website
• Latvian official website
• Lithuanian official website
• Slovenian official website
• Official report PDF