All set for 2012/13 UEFA Futsal Cup

Holders FC Barcelona are among 48 clubs in the running for the 2012/13 UEFA Futsal Cup, but will be among only four excused the draw for the preliminary and main rounds at 14.00CET next Wednesday in Nyon.

Barcelona won on their debut last April, and as one of the top four seeds get a bye to the elite round, along with the side they beat to retain the Spanish title, Murcia FS, 2010 champions SL Benfica and regular semi-finalists Kairat Almaty. In total, 27 clubs will start the competiton in the preliminary round, with 17 more entering for the main round.

The 27 sides starting in the preliminary round, played from 7 to 12 August, will be drawn into six groups of four and one of three. Each group will contain a team each of the for seeding pots, ranked by coefficient, other than the three-sided section, which will have no club from the lowest-ranked pot. Seven sides, including two of the 14 newcomers, have been pre-selected as mini-tournament hosts and will be drawn separately before being placed in their appropriate seeding position.

For the main round, the winners of the seven preliminary round groups will be pre-drawn with the 17 teams entering at that stage. Among their number are 2007 winners MFK Dinamo Moskva, who lost last season's final to Barcelona, and sole ever-presents Iberia Star Tblisi. As in the previous draw, teams will be allocated one of four seeding positions and six clubs have been selected as hosts and will be drawn separately.

The main round will be played from 4 to 9 September and the top two in each group will join the four top seeds in the elite round draw on 13 September. The four group winners from 9 to 14 October will compete in the finals in late April with the hosts drawn from among their number.

2012/13 entrants
*Debutants

All seedings by coefficient, full list on P7 of draw procedure

Preliminary round
Pot 1 – hosts
KMF Leotar Trebinje (BIH, seeding position 1)
KMF Zelezarec Skopje (MKD, 1)
Sporting Club de Paris (FRA, 2)
FC Grand Pro Varna (BUL, 2)*
København Futsal (DEN, 3)*
1. FC Allstars Wiener Neustadt (AUT, 3)
FC Encamp (AND, 4)

Pot 2
Groups A-G: draw to determine three-team group

Pot 3 – seeding position 4
Vlora Futsal (ALB)*
TÜFAD Ankara (TUR)*
FC Anzhi Tallinn (EST)
FC Santos Perth (SCO)
Cardiff City FC (WAL)*

Pot 4 – seeding position 3
Balzan Youths FC (MLT)
FC Shahumyan Yerevan (ARM)*
Hamburg Panthers (GER)*
Bekentas Vilnius (LTU)*
FC Ibra Göteborg (SWE)*

Pot 5 – seeding position 2
Vegakameratene (NOR)
LSM Lida (BLR)*
CSC Lexmax Stauceni (MDA)*
KF Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje (MNE)*
Minerva Futsal Bern (SUI)*

Pot 6 – seeding position 1
FT Antwerpen (BEL)
FS Ilves Tampere (FIN)
Helvécia Futsal London (ENG)
EID Futsal (IRL)
Maccabi Nahalat Yitzhak Tel-Aviv (ISR)*

Main round
Pot 7 – hosts
FK EP Chrudim (CZE, 1)
Nikars Riga (LVA, 2)
ETO FC Győr (HUN, 3)
MNK Split (CRO, 3)
AC Omonia Nicosia (CYP, 3)
FC Litija (SVN, 3)

Pot 8 – seeding position 4
Preliminary round winners Groups A to G

The last of the seven to be drawn will be placed in seeding position 3 of first available group

Pot 9 – seeding position 3
SK Energia Lviv (UKR)

Pot 10 – seeding position 2
City'US Târgu Mures (ROU)
Slov-Matic Bratislava (SVK)
Akademia FC Pniewy (POL)
Athina '90 (GRE)
CF Eindhoven (NED)

Pot 11 – seeding position 1
Araz Naxçivan (AZE)
MFK Dinamo Moskva (RUS)
Luparense C/5 (ITA)
Iberia Star Tbilisi (GEO)
KMF Ekonomac Kragyjevac (SRB)

Bye to elite round
FC Barcelona (ESP, holders)
SL Benfica (POR)
Murcia FS (ESP)
Kairat Almaty (KAZ)