Record entry for 2016/17 UEFA Futsal Cup
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
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Holders Ugra Yugorsk and first entrants from Kosovo and San Marino are among a record 52 clubs entered, with 48 involved in the preliminary and main round draws on Thursday.
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Holders Ugra Yugorsk and the first-ever entrants from Kosovo and San Marino are among a record 52 clubs in the running for the 2016/17 UEFA Futsal Cup.
While Ugra and fellow top seeds Kairat Almaty, Inter FS and FC Dynamo have byes to the elite round, the other 48 contenders are awaiting the draw for the preliminary and main rounds in Nyon on Thursday 7 July, streamed live on UEFA.com. In total, 32 teams (ranked 21–52, including Kosovo's FC Feniks and San Marino's Tre Fiori) will start the competition in the preliminary round, with 16 more (ranked 5–20) entering at the main round stage.
Preliminary round (16 to 21 August)
• Eight groups of four.
• Every group will contain one side each from the four seeding pots, ranked by coefficient.
• Eight clubs, including five of the 18 newcomers starting in the preliminary round, have been pre-selected as mini-tournament hosts and will be drawn separately before being placed in their appropriate seeding position.
• The eight group winners go through.
• For this and the main round draw, any further restrictions will be announced ahead of the draw ceremony.
Main round (11 to 16 October)
• The winners of the eight preliminary round groups will be pre-drawn along with the 16 teams entering at this stage.
• Among the teams involved are two more debutants: Italy's Real Rieti and Slovakia's Pinerola Brastislava, who ended the six-year reign of Slov-Matic Bratislava.
• Also in the main round are 2011 runners-up Sporting CP and past semi-finalists Araz Naxçıvan.
• As in the previous draw, sides will be allocated one of four seeding positions and six clubs (including Rieti) have been designated as hosts and will be drawn separately, while maintaining their seeding positions.
Elite round & Final tournament
• The top two in each of the six groups will join the four top seeds (holders Ugra Yugorsk and former winners Kairat Almaty, Inter FS and FC Dynamo) in the elite round draw on 21 October.
• The four elite round group winners, to be decided between 22 and 27 November, will compete in the final tournament in late April with the hosts picked from among them.
2016/17 entrants
*Debutants
Preliminary round
Pot 1 – hosts
Sievi Futsal (FIN, seeding position 1)
Brezje Maribor (SVN, 1)*
FC Encamp (AND, 2)
Classic Chisinau (MDA, 3)*
Military Futsal Team (MNE, 3)*
SC Kaiserebersdorf (AUT, 3)*
ASUE Yerevan (ARM, 3)
FC Baltija (LTU, 4)*
Pot 2 – seeding position 4
AFM Futsal Maniacs (SUI)*
FC Cosmos (EST)*
Cardiff University Futsal Club (WAL)
Wattcell Futsal Club (SCO)*
FC Munsbach (LUX)*
FC Feniks (KOS)*
Tre Fiori (SMR)*
Pot 3 – seeding position 3
Lynx FC (GIB)
KF Tirana (ALB)
Valletta FC (MLT)*
ASA Tel-Aviv (ISR)*
Pot 4 – seeding position 2
Tbilisi State University (GEO)*
IFK Göteberg (SWE)
JB Futsal Gentofte (FIN)
Zduńska Wola (POL)*
Blue Magic FC Dublin (IRL)
Sandefjord (NOR)*
Istanbul Üniversitesi SK (TUR)
Pot 5 – seeding position 1
APOEL Nicosia (CYP)
Athina '90 (GRE)
Centar Sarajevo (BIH)
Oxford City Lions (ENG)*
Hamburg Panthers (GER)
Amsterdam SV (NED)*
Main round
Pot 6 – hosts
Ekonomac Kragujevac (SRB, 1)
EP Chrudim (CZE, 1)
Zelezarec Skopje (MKD, 2)
Grand Pro Varna (BUL, 2)
Energy Lviv (UKR, 3)
Real Rieti (ITA, 3)*
Pot 7 – seeding position 4
Preliminary round winners Groups A to H
The last two of the eight to be drawn will be placed in seeding position 3 of the first available groups
Pot 8 – seeding position 3
Pinerola Bratislava (SVK)*
Nacional Zagreb (CRO)
Pot 9 – seeding position 2
LSM Lida (BLR)
Halle-Gooik (BEL)
Kremlin-Bicêtre United (FRA)
City'US Târgu Mureş (ROU)
Pot 10 – seeding position 1
Sporting CP (POR)
Araz Naxçıvan (AZE)
ETO Győr (HUN)
Nikars Riga (LVA)
Bye to elite round
Ugra Yugorsk (RUS, holders)
Kairat Almaty (KAZ)
Inter FS (ESP)
FC Dynamo (RUS)