The European Futsal men’s qualifying groups were drawn in Nyon, Switzerland on May 30. Finland will receive Malta for the first basket of the draw, Belarus for the second basket and Italy for the third basket. The foursome featured the best teams in the ranking, including Finland.
Fifa and Uefa have banned Russia from adult international competition because of the war in Ukraine.
Instead, Belarus, which supports Russia, has been allowed to continue in the tournaments. In many other sports, Belarus is also closed from competitive activities.
The topic was already discussed in the fall of 2022, when it was possible that Belarus would have been drawn into the Huuhkajie EC qualifying group.
General Secretary of the Football Association Marco Casagrande stated at the time that Belarus should stay away from competition activities.
– The umbrella organizations have seen no grounds for denying Belarus’ participation. In that sense, the border has been drawn between Russia and Belarus. We disagree.
The Finnish Football Association’s position is still the same. However, Casagrande sees that Belarus getting into the same group as Finland was likely at some point.
– There have been quite a few draws here, so that Belarus has been avoided. However, there have been quite a few raffles for adults or young people on the soccer side.
What options?
First of all, the Balloliitto solves practical problems. It is already clear according to UEFA’s regulations that matches will not be played in Belarus.
Even playing in Finland is problematic, because Belarusian athletes might not even be able to enter the country.
– As an alternative, both matches would be played on a neutral field, which has been an option for other countries in the past. Another option is that we don’t play matches against them, Casagrande answers.
According to Casagrande, playing against Belarus is a “government-level matter”. The matter will therefore be taken to the Palloliitto board for consideration at the next meeting in a week and a half.
– We will then have a discussion about this. I don’t foresee it.
The most common line in the Nordic countries has been that matches are played on neutral grounds.
– It might be like this for us too. I have to remember that these matches are not until next March, so final decisions can be made later.
Uefa knows that Belarus playing in Finland is problematic. The Finnish Football Federation has had discussions with UEFA on the subject before and also after the last qualifying draw.
– They know that we think in our heads here. Of course, we also need to get more information from their side, how they see the situation. We haven’t officially done that yet.
According to the Finnish Football Federation, Belarus should not participate in the qualification. The fact that matches are not played in Belarus is described by Casagrande as a “minimal issue”.
The general secretary would also like Uefa to meet the costs if Belarus matches are played on neutral grounds. Uefa has not agreed to that before.
For example, in the women’s EC qualifiers, Uefa ordered Two 0-3 defeats for Lithuania and 5,000 euro fines for the country’s refusal to play against Belarus.
The same would probably be the case in Finland if it does not play against Belarus.
– In a group where six matches are played and two matches result in a 0-5 loss, it is also quite strict in terms of sportsmanship. But, of course, this is not only a sporting matter, but other aspects are carefully considered here.
Since there is still time for the qualifying matches, Casagrande does not believe that the final decisions will be made at the June Football Association board meeting. He says that there are further discussions on the subject with the ministry, other sports, UEFA and other Nordic countries.
– The situation is this at the moment, that Belarus is allowed to participate in competitive activities, and then it has certain consequences.
The next European Championship for men will be played in 2026 in Latvia and Lithuania. Finland had also applied for the games, where the venues would have been Espoo’s Areena and Tampere’s Hakametsä.
There are ten EC qualifying groups. The group winner of each group advances directly to the European Championships. The eight best from the second group play two-part playoffs, the winners of which also advance to the games.
Women’s first World Cup tournament
In addition, the women’s WC qualifying groups were drawn in Nyon. Finland will face Moldova, Slovenia and England in the qualifying group played in Moldova in October 2024. The group winner advances to the next stage of the qualification, the Elite Round.
The qualifying group of the Elite Round will be played in March 2025. The two top countries in Europe, Spain and Portugal, will start directly from the Elite Round.
The first women’s World Cup tournament in history will be played in the Philippines in 2025. A total of 16 countries will qualify for the games, including four from Europe.
The Women’s European Championship has been played three times (2019, 2021 and 2023). Spain has won every tournament.
Finnish women have never advanced to the final tournament of prestigious futsal competitions. Finnish men played in the European Championships in 2022.