Futsal EURO 2026, Latvia & Lithuania: All you need to know

Latvia and Lithuania will host UEFA Futsal EURO 2026 in Riga and Kaunas.

Selected at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Hamburg on 2 December 2023, it will be the first time either the Latvian Football Federation or Lithuanian Football Federation has hosted a senior UEFA national-team final tournament. The 2026 event, to be played on dates between 18 January and 8 February that year, will be the second Futsal EURO since the switch from the biennial 12-team tournament to a 16-nation finals held every four years following Netherlands 2022.

The two Baltic neighbours will be the first co-hosts for a Futsal EURO. Their 14 finals opponents will be decided by qualifying running from April 2024 to September 2025.

Latvia and Lithuania follow in the footsteps of previous Futsal EURO hosts Netherlands (2022), Slovenia (2018), Serbia (2016), Belgium (2014), Croatia (2012), Hungary (2010), Portugal (2007), Czechia (2005), Italy (2003), Russia (2001) and Spain, who held the first UEFA European Futsal Championship of 1999 and also the 1996 UEFA European Futsal Tournament.

Venues

Arena Riga, Latvia

Arena Riga during the 2022 Futsal Champions League finalSPORTSFILE

The arena in the Latvian capital was the venue for the 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Futsal Championship and 2022 UEFA Futsal Champions League final tournaments. Latvia is also set to stage the 2027 U17 EURO, which will be its first UEFA football final tournament.

Arena Riga opened in 2006 and is home to several ice hockey and basketball teams (including Latvian national selections) and has staged a wide variety of sports and other events including concerts. Among other major competitions played were matches at the 2006, 2021 and 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, EuroBasket Women 2009 and EuroBasket 2015, with the 2025 edition also set to take place at Arena Riga.

Kaunas Arena, Lithuania

Kaunas Arena was a venue for the 2021 Futsal World CupFIFA via Getty Images

Kaunas Arena in Lithuania's second largest city hosted 22 matches in the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup, including both the opening game and the final. While Futsal EURO 2026 will be the first major UEFA final tournament in the sport staged in Lithuania, it follows in the footsteps of football's 2013 U19 EURO (where Kaunas hosted five matches), 2018 WU17 EURO and 2024 WU19 EURO (when Kaunas was again a venue).

Opened in 2011, Kaunas Arena is the home of basketball's Žalgiris Kaunas and staged the sport's EuroLeague Final Four in 2023. It has also hosted many major concerts and events including the 2024 European Figure Skating Championships.

Final tournament format

The 16 teams (including the two co-hosts) will be drawn into four groups of four, with the top two from each progressing to the quarter-finals. The exact schedule and allocation of matches to each venue is to be confirmed.

Knockout system:
Quarter-final 1: Winners Group B v Runners-up Group A
Quarter-final 2: Winners Group A v Runners-up Group B
Quarter-final 3: Winners Group C v Runners-up Group D
Quarter-final 4: Winners Group D v Runners-up Group C
Semi-final 1: Winners quarter-final 2 v Winners quarter-final 4
Semi-final 2: Winners quarter-final 1 v Winners quarter-final 3
Third-place match: Losers semi-final 1 v Losers semi-final 2
Final: Winners semi-final 1 v Winners semi-final 2

Qualifying format

Qualifying consists of three stages: preliminary round (mini-tournaments), main round (home and away groups) and play-offs (home and away).

• Hosts Latvia and Lithuania both enter in the final tournament.
• 12 teams begin in the preliminary round, the other 34 (with the higher ranking as of December 2023) going directly in the main round.

Preliminary round (draw 25 January 2024, matches 8–17 April 2024)

• The teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, played as mini-tournaments.
• The top two in each group progress to the main round.

Group A: Cyprus, Andorra, Estonia, Northern Ireland

Group B: Israel, Bulgaria, Austria, San Marino

Group C: Switzerland, Malta, Gibraltar, Scotland

Main round (draw 30 May 2024, matches 9 December 2024–18 April 2025)

• The 40 teams (including the 34 entering directly in the main round) are drawn into ten groups of four
• Each team faces the other teams in their group both home and away.
• The ten group winners join hosts Latvia and Lithuania in the finals, with the eight best runners-up entering the play-offs

Entering in main round: Portugal (holders), Spain, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, France, Finland, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Georgia, Netherlands, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, Belgium, Belarus, Moldova, Germany, North Macedonia, Sweden, Montenegro, Kosovo, England, Denmark, Albania, Norway, Greece, Türkiye

Play-offs (draw 15 May 2025, matches 5–24 September 2025)

• The eight teams are drawn into four ties, played over two legs, to decide the last four qualifiers.

Past Futsal EURO finals

2022 Portugal 4-2 Russia: Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018 Portugal 3-2 Spain (aet): Ljubljana, Slovenia
2016 Spain 7-3 Russia: Belgrade, Serbia
2014 Italy 3-1 Russia: Antwerp, Belgium
2012 Spain 3-1 Russia (aet): Zagreb, Croatia
2010 Spain 4-2 Portugal: Debrecen, Hungary
2007 Spain 3-1 Italy: Porto, Portugal
2005 Spain 2-1 Russia: Ostrava, Czech Republic
2003 Italy 1-0 Ukraine: Caserta, Italy
2001 Spain 2-1 Ukraine (golden goal): Moscow, Russia
1999 Russia 3-3 Spain (aet, 4-3 pens): Granada, Spain
1996* Spain 5-3 Russia: Córdoba, Spain

*UEFA European Futsal Tournament, championship status from 1999 onwards