The UEFA Futsal Euro 2026 qualifying competition is a men's futsal competition that determines the 14 teams joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Latvia and Lithuania in the UEFA Futsal Euro 2026 final tournament.[2][3]
A total of 48 UEFA member national teams entered the competition. Apart from co-hosts Latvia and Lithuania, the remaining 46 teams entered the qualifying competition. The 34 teams with the highest futsal men's national-team coefficient ranking taken in December 2023 were given byes to the main round, while the remaining 12 teams entered in the preliminary round.[4]
The qualifying competition consists of three rounds:[4][6]
Preliminary round: The 12 teams that entered this round were drawn into three groups. Each group played a single round-robin, with one of the teams selected as hosts before the draw. For each group, the winners and runners-up advance to the main round.
Main round: The 40 teams (34 teams with the highest coefficient ranking, and six teams from the preliminary round) were drawn into ten groups. Each group played a home-and-away round-robin. The ten group winners qualified for the final tournament, while the eight best runners-up advanced to the play-offs.
Play-offs: The eight teams will be drawn into four ties, each tie will be two-legged home-and-away matches to determine the last four qualifiers.
In the preliminary round and main round, teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.01, 14.02 and 17.01):[6]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
(Preliminary round only)Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
(Main round only) Away goals scored in all group matches;
(Main round only) Wins in all group matches;
(Main round only) Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round or qualifying group stage draw;
To determine the eight best runners-up from the main round. The following criteria were applied (Regulations Article 16.01):[6]
Points;
Goal difference;
Goals scored;
Disciplinary points;
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round or qualifying group stage draw;
In the play-offs, the team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualifies for the final tournament. If the aggregate score is level, two 5-minute periods of extra time are played at the end of the second leg. The team which scores more goals during extra time qualifies for the next stage. If both teams score the same number of goals during extra time, a penalty shoot-out determines which team qualifies for the next stage (Regulations Article 22.03).[6]
The 34 highest-ranked teams entered the main round, while the 12 lowest-ranked teams entered the preliminary round. The coefficient ranking was also used for seeding in the main round draw, where each team was assigned a seeding position according to their ranking.[7]
The draw for the preliminary round took place at 14:00 CET, 25 January 2024. The seeding was based on the Elo-based futsal men's national-team coefficient ranking taken in December 2023. The 12 teams were drawn into 3 groups of four.[4]
The draw started with pot 1 and ended with pot 4, with each team selected then allocated into groups alphabetically. The pots for the draw are shown below.
The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the main round. The preliminary round was played 9 – 14 April 2024.
All matches within each group were hosted by one of the participating associations. The hosts were Cyprus, Austria, and Switzerland. When establishing the match schedule, the host association is placed in position 1, and the visiting teams in positions 2, 3 and 4, according to their coefficient rankings.[6]
The draw for the main round took place on 30 May 2024. The seeding were based on the new Elo-based futsal men's national-team coefficient ranking. The 40 teams were drawn into 10 groups of four. Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were not to be drawn in the same group as Kosovo. Each team played one home and one away match against each other team in its group.[4][8]
The ten group winners qualified for the UEFA Futsal EURO 2026, while the eight best runners-up qualified for the play-offs.[6]
The draw for the main round play-offs will take place on 21 May 2025 at 14:15 CEST (UTC+2).[9] The eight teams are drawn into four ties, played over two legs between 15 and 24 September 2025, to decide the last four qualifiers.[4][6]