Le Mans to stage 2025 UEFA Futsal Champions League finals

Antarès in Le Mans will stage the 2025 UEFA Futsal Champions League finals from 2 to 4 May after a UEFA Executive Committee decision.

The finals are a four-team knockout event played between the teams that won the recent elite round mini-tournaments: debutants Cartagena Costa Cálida, holders Illes Balears Palma and their fellow two-time champions Kairat Almaty and Sporting CP. Officially hosted by French club Etoile Lavalloise, it will be the first UEFA futsal final tournament to be played in France. The date and location for the draw is to be announced.

The 5,785-capacity arena, nicknamed the ‘Saucer’ after its distinctive shape, opened in 1995, and is located inside the Circuit de la Sarthe, home of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. It is the home of Le Mans Sarthe Basket and was a venue for FIBA EuroBasket 1999 as well as hosting handball, gymnastics, fencing, ice shows, concerts and trade fairs among many events.

Le Mans will be the fourth neutral venue for the finals of this competition after Yerevan (2024), Riga (2022) and Zadar – a one-off eight-team event due to COVID in 2021. Zaragoza was the venue in 2018 when jointly hosted by Barça and Madrid-based Spanish rivals Inter FS.

Other host cities since the introduction of the four-team finals have been Murcia (2007), Moscow (2008), Ekaterinburg (2009), Lisbon (2010 and 2015), Almaty (2011, 2017 and 2019), Lleida (2012), Tbilisi (2013), Baku (2014), Guadalajara (2016), Barcelona (2020) and Palma de Mallorca (2023). Lisbon also hosted an eight-team final tournament in 2002 to conclude the inaugural season, with the next four editions decided by two-legged finals.