Iberia among main round hopefuls

The UEFA Futsal Cup main round is played between Tuesday and Sunday with last season's final tournament hosts Iberia Star Tbilisi and two other past semi-finalists among the 24 teams chasing elite round slots.

Sixteen clubs enter the competition at this stage, the other eight main round slots having been filled following August's preliminary round. Iberia, maintaining their unique record of featuring in every edition, are in Hungary for Group 2 against hosts ETO FC Győr and preliminary qualifiers KMF Tango Sarajevo and FC Grand Pro Varna. Also starting on Tuesday is Group 4 in Cyprus, where AC Omonia Nicosia welcome regular threats FK EP Chrudim and FC Litija plus Baku United FC, the first English side to make it this far.

On Wednesday, former semi-finalists Marca Futsal are in a tough Group 3 alongside hosts FC Lokomotiv Kharkiv, who supply the Ukraine squad that qualified for UEFA Futsal EURO 2014 last week, Sporting Club de Paris and Tulpar Karagandy – gaining a debut entry as Kazakhstani champions Kairat Almaty won the European crown in April. The other past semi-finalists in action, Araz Naxçivan, also begin that day in Group 6 in Romania while the last of the six sections kicks off on Thursday in Riga, among the contenders the first German team to reach this round, Hamburg Panthers.

The top two in each main round group will join the four highest-seeded clubs in the elite round draw on Friday 18 October: Kairat, former winners MFK Dinamo and FC Barcelona, and 2011 runners-up Sporting Clube de Portugal. The four elite round group winners, to be decided between 19 and 24 November, will compete in the final tournament in late April, with the hosts picked from among their number.

Main round
Group 1 (3–6 October):Slov-Matic Bratislava (SVK), FK Nikars Riga (LVA)*, MFK VitEn Vitebsk (BLR), Hamburg Panthers (GER)

Group 2 (1–4 October):Iberia Star Tbilisi (GEO), ETO FC Győr (HUN)*, KMF Tango Sarajevo (BIH), FC Grand Pro Varna (BUL)

Group 3 (2–5 October):Marca Futsal (ITA), Tulpar Karagandy (KAZ), FC Lokomotiv Kharkiv (UKR)*, Sporting Clube de Paris (FRA)

Group 4 (1–4 October):FK EP Chrudim (CZE), FC Litija (SVN), AC Omonia Nicosia (CYP)*, Baku United FC (ENG)

Group 5 (2–5 October): KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac (SRB)*, Club Futsal Eindhoven (NED), MNK Nacional Zagreb (CRO), Vegakameratene (NOR)

Group 6 (2–5 October): Araz Naxçivan (AZE), City'US Târgu Mures (ROU)*, Châtelineau Futsal (BEL), Athina '90 (GRE)

*hosts