UEFA Futsal Finals for January 2010

The sixth UEFA European Futsal Championship in Hungary will take place from 18 to 30 January 2010 after being moved from its original autumn schedule.

Hungary venues

For the first time 12 teams rather than eight will contest the finals, to be staged between Budapest's Papp László Arena and the Fönix Arena in Debrecen. The switch from November 2009 to January 2010 was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee at its latest meeting in Vaduz and means the championship will now take place in even-numbered years, ensuring the competition occurs at a previously vacant slot in the UEFA calendar for maximum exposure.

Appealing to football fans

UEFA Futsal Manager Laurent Morel said: "This decision was a logical one, justified by the need for better positioning. It will surely give a further boost to the major European futsal rendez-vous. During the last UEFA European Futsal Championship in Porto, we realised it was appealing to existing futsal fans. We can only increase the interest of football fans with a final tournament taking place during the sport's winter break. It is also a better fit with the European futsal calendar."

Spain won the tournament's most recent edition, in Porto in November 2007, and will be represented at both of this year's finals – the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil and then the inaugural UEFA European Under-21 Futsal Tournament, which runs from 8 to 14 December in St Petersburg with hosts Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Slovenia, Italy and Croatia also involved.

...taken from http://www.uefa.com/