FIFA Futsal World Cup facts for kids
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| Organising body | FIFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Region | International |
| Number of teams | 24 (finals) |
| Current champions |  Portugal(1st title) |
| Most successful team(s) |  Brazil(5 titles) |
The FIFA Futsal World Cup is a big international competition for men's national futsal teams. Futsal is a type of football played indoors on a smaller field, usually with five players per side. This exciting tournament is organized by FIFA, which is the main group that runs football around the world.
The first Futsal World Cup happened in 1989 in the Netherlands. Since then, it has been held every four years. It usually takes place in the even year between the regular 11-a-side World Cups.
Currently, Portugal are the champions! They won their first title in 2021 in Lithuania. They beat Argentina, who were the champions from 2016, in a thrilling final match.
In the beginning, only 16 teams played in the tournament. The first one had teams from Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, North and Central America, and Oceania. Since 2012, 24 teams now compete. These teams are split into six groups, with four teams in each group. The best two teams from each group, plus the four best third-place teams, move on to a knockout stage with 16 teams.
Contents
How Teams Qualify
To play in the FIFA Futsal World Cup, teams need to qualify. A total of 24 national teams make it to the final tournament. One spot is always saved for the host country, which gets to play automatically. The other 23 teams have to earn their spots through special competitions held in their own parts of the world. These are called continental competitions.
Here are the main competitions where teams qualify:
| Confederation | Championship |
|---|---|
| AFC (Asia) | AFC Futsal Asian Cup |
| CAF (Africa) | Africa Futsal Cup of Nations |
| CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) | CONCACAF Futsal Championship |
| CONMEBOL (South America) | Copa América de Futsal |
| UEFA (Europe) | FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification (UEFA) |
| OFC (Oceania) | OFC Futsal Championship |
Tournament Results
Here's a look at the past winners and top teams of the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
- Keys
- aet: after extra time (means the game went longer than normal time)
- p: penalty shoot-out (means the winner was decided by penalty kicks)
| Ed. | Year | Host | Final | Third place game | Num. teams |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Champions |
Score |  Runners-up |
 Third place |
Score | Fourth place | ||||
| 1 | 1989 |  Netherlands |
 Brazil |
2–1 |  Netherlands |
 United States |
3–2 (aet) |  Belgium |
16 |
| 2 | 1992 |  Hong Kong |
 Brazil |
4–1 | United States |
 Spain |
9–6 |  Iran |
16 |
| 3 | 1996 |  Spain |
Brazil |
6–4 | Spain |
 Russia |
3–2 |  Ukraine |
16 |
| 4 | 2000 |  Guatemala |
Spain |
4–3 | Brazil |
 Portugal |
4–2 | Russia |
16 |
| 5 | 2004 |  Taiwan |
Spain |
2–1 |  Italy |
Brazil |
7–4 |  Argentina |
16 |
| 6 | 2008 | Brazil |
Brazil |
2–2 (aet) (4–3 p) |
Spain |
 Italy |
2–1 | Russia |
20 |
| 7 | 2012 |  Thailand |
Brazil |
3–2 (aet) | Spain |
Italy |
3–0 |  Colombia |
24 |
| 8 | 2016 |  Colombia |
Argentina |
5–4 | Russia |
Iran |
2–2 (4–3 p) |
Portugal |
24 |
| 9 | 2021 |  Lithuania |
Portugal |
2–1 | Argentina |
Brazil |
4–2 |  Kazakhstan |
24 |
| 10 | 2024 |  Uzbekistan |
TBD | TBD | 24 | ||||
New Teams Joining the World Cup
Many different countries have played in the FIFA Futsal World Cup over the years. This table shows when new national teams joined the tournament for the first time.
| Year | Debuting teams | Successor teams | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | No. | Cum. | ||
| 1989 |  Algeria,  Argentina,  Australia,  Belgium,  Brazil,  Canada,  Denmark,  Hungary,  Italy,  Japan,  Netherlands,  Paraguay,  Saudi Arabia,  Spain,  United States,  Zimbabwe |
16 | 16 | |
| 1992 |  China,  Costa Rica,  Hong Kong,  Iran,  Nigeria,  Poland,  Russia |
7 | 23 | |
| 1996 |  Cuba,  Egypt,  Malaysia,  Ukraine,  Uruguay |
5 | 28 | |
| 2000 |  Croatia,  Guatemala,  Kazakhstan, Portugal,  Thailand |
5 | 33 | |
| 2004 |  Chinese Taipei,  Czech Republic |
2 | 35 | |
| 2008 |  Libya,  Solomon Islands |
2 | 37 | |
| 2012 |  Colombia,  Kuwait,  Mexico,  Morocco,  Panama,  Serbia |
6 | 43 | |
| 2016 |  Azerbaijan,  Mozambique,  Uzbekistan,  Vietnam |
4 | 47 | |
| 2021 |  Angola,  Lithuania,  Venezuela |
3 | 50 | |
| 2024 |  Afghanistan,  France,  New Zealand,  Tajikistan |
4 | 54 | |
Overall Team Performance
This table shows how well teams have done over all the Futsal World Cups. Teams get 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw (a tie), and 0 for a loss. If a game goes to extra time, it counts as a win or loss. If it goes to a penalty shootout, it counts as a draw.
| Rank | Team | Part | M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil |
9 | 67 | 57 | 6 | 4 | 428 | 101 | +327 | 177 |
| 2 | Spain |
9 | 61 | 48 | 5 | 8 | 260 | 118 | +142 | 149 |
| 3 | Argentina |
9 | 55 | 30 | 7 | 18 | 163 | 124 | +39 | 97 |
| 4 |  Russia |
7 | 45 | 27 | 5 | 13 | 241 | 114 | +127 | 86 |
| 5 | Italy |
7 | 43 | 27 | 3 | 13 | 153 | 96 | +57 | 84 |
| 6 | Portugal |
7 | 37 | 22 | 6 | 9 | 126 | 76 | +50 | 72 |
| 7 | Iran |
8 | 40 | 19 | 6 | 15 | 137 | 133 | +4 | 63 |
| 8 | Ukraine |
6 | 30 | 14 | 5 | 11 | 105 | 81 | +24 | 47 |
| 9 | Netherlands |
4 | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 76 | 76 | 0 | 41 |
| 10 | United States |
6 | 32 | 12 | 4 | 16 | 91 | 108 | −17 | 40 |
| 11 |  Paraguay |
7 | 28 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 93 | 88 | +5 | 35 |
| 12 | Belgium |
3 | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 56 | 51 | +5 | 32 |
| 13 | Egypt |
7 | 28 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 97 | 115 | −18 | 30 |
| 14 | Kazakhstan |
4 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 47 | 41 | +6 | 20 |
| 15 | Czech Republic |
4 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 37 | 53 | −16 | 20 |
| 16 | Thailand |
6 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 56 | 102 | −46 | 19 |
| 17 | Colombia |
2 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 15 |
| 18 | Guatemala |
5 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 48 | 88 | −40 | 15 |
| 19 |  Japan |
5 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 47 | 77 | −30 | 14 |
| 20 | Uruguay |
3 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 30 | 39 | −9 | 13 |
| 21 | Costa Rica |
5 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 39 | 73 | −34 | 13 |
| 22 | Australia |
7 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 34 | 118 | −84 | 13 |
| 23 | Serbia |
2 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 18 | +9 | 10 |
| 24 | Croatia |
1 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 15 | +3 | 9 |
| 25 | Hungary |
1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 17 | +6 | 8 |
| 26 | Morocco |
3 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 24 | 36 | −12 | 8 |
| 27 | Azerbaijan |
1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 18 | +7 | 7 |
| 28 | Venezuela |
1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 7 |
| 29 | Vietnam |
2 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 33 | −21 | 7 |
| 30 | Poland |
1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 22 | −7 | 6 |
| 31 | Panama |
3 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 24 | 58 | −34 | 6 |
| 32 | Denmark |
1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 4 |
| 33 | Uzbekistan |
3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 21 | 30 | −9 | 4 |
| 34 | Canada |
1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
| 35 |  Hong Kong |
1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
| 36 | Kuwait |
1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | −5 | 3 |
| 37 | Cuba |
5 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 24 | 91 | −67 | 3 |
| 38 | Solomon Islands |
4 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 22 | 142 | −120 | 3 |
| 39 |  Libya |
2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 36 | −26 | 1 |
| 40 | China |
3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 15 | 66 | −51 | 0 |
| 41 | Nigeria |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 15 | −8 | 0 |
| 42 | Lithuania |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 0 |
| 43 | Mexico |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 13 | −9 | 0 |
| 44 | Angola |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 16 | −10 | 0 |
| 45 | Zimbabwe |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | −11 | 0 |
| 46 | Algeria |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 17 | −12 | 0 |
| 47 | Mozambique |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 22 | −15 | 0 |
| 48 | Malaysia |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 24 | −20 | 0 |
| 49 | Saudi Arabia |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 27 | −23 | 0 |
| 50 | Chinese Taipei |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 29 | −27 | 0 |
| 51 | Afghanistan |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | France |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 | New Zealand |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 54 | Tajikistan |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Medals Won by Teams
This table shows which countries have won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil |
5 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2 | Spain |
2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Argentina |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Portugal |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Italy |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Russia |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| United States |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 8 | Netherlands |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Iran |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (9 entries) | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 | |
Host Nation Results
It's always exciting when your country hosts a big tournament! Here's how the host nations have performed in the Futsal World Cup.
| Year | Host nation | Finish |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Netherlands |
Runners-up |
| 1992 |  Hong Kong |
Group stage |
| 1996 | Spain |
Runners-up |
| 2000 | Guatemala |
Group stage |
| 2004 |  Taiwan |
Group stage |
| 2008 | Brazil |
Champions |
| 2012 | Thailand |
Round of 16 |
| 2016 | Colombia |
Round of 16 |
| 2021 | Lithuania |
Group stage |
| 2024 | Uzbekistan |
TBD |
Defending Champions' Results
What happens when a team tries to win the World Cup again? This table shows how the defending champions have done in the next tournament.
| Year | Defending champions | Finish |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Brazil |
Champions |
| 1996 | Brazil |
Champions |
| 2000 | Brazil |
Runners-up |
| 2004 | Spain |
Champions |
| 2008 | Spain |
Runners-up |
| 2012 | Brazil |
Champions |
| 2016 | Brazil |
Round of 16 |
| 2021 | Argentina |
Runners-up |
| 2024 | Portugal |
TBD |
Top Goal Scorers
All-Time Top Scorers
These are the players who have scored the most goals in the history of the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
| Rank | Name | Country | Goals | Matches | Tournaments | Goals per match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falcão | Brazil |
48 | 33 | 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 | 1.45 |
| 2 | Manoel Tobias | Brazil |
43 | 32 | 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 | 1.34 |
| 3 | Konstantin Eremenko | Russia |
28 | 18 | 1992, 1996, 2000 | 1.56 |
| 4 | Schumacher | Brazil |
25 | 25 | 2000, 2004, 2008 | 1.00 |
| 5 | Ricardinho | Portugal |
22 | 18 | 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021 | 1.43 |
| 6 | Éder Lima | Russia |
19 | 12 | 2012, 2016 | 1.58 |
| 7 | Pula | Russia |
18 | 14 | 2008, 2012 | 1.29 |
| 8 | Saeid Rajabi | Iran |
17 | 8 | 1992 | 2.13 |
| 9 | Índio | Brazil |
15 | 16 | 2000, 2004 | 0.94 |
| 10 | Daniel | Spain |
14 | 15 | 2000, 2008 | 0.93 |
Top Scorer in Each Tournament
This table shows who scored the most goals in each specific Futsal World Cup.
| Year | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | László Zsadányi |
7 |
| 1992 | Saeid Rajabi |
17 |
| 1996 | Manoel Tobias |
14 |
| 2000 | Manoel Tobias |
19 |
| 2004 | Falcão |
13 |
| 2008 | Pula |
16 |
| 2012 | Éder Lima |
9 |
| 2016 | Ricardinho |
12 |
| 2021 | Ferrão |
9 |
Special Awards
FIFA gives out several awards at the end of each Futsal World Cup to recognize outstanding players and teams.
Golden Ball Award
The Adidas Golden Ball award goes to the best player in the whole tournament. Sports journalists vote for this award.
| World Cup | Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 Brazil | Falcão |
Schumacher |
Tiago |
| 2012 Thailand | Neto |
Kike |
Ricardinho |
| 2016 Colombia | Fernando Wilhelm |
Éder Lima |
Ahmad Esmaeilpour |
| 2021 Lithuania | Ricardinho |
Pany Varela |
Douglas Júnior |
| 2024 Uzbekistan |
Golden Shoe Award
The adidas Golden Shoe is given to the player who scores the most goals in the tournament. If there's a tie in goals, the player with more assists (passes that lead to a goal) wins.
| World Cup | Golden Shoe | Goals | Silver Shoe | Goals | Bronze Shoe | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 Brazil | Pula |
16 | Falcão |
15 | Lenísio |
11 |
| 2012 Thailand | Éder Lima |
9 | Rodolfo Fortino |
8 | Fernandinho |
7 |
| 2016 Colombia | Ricardinho |
12 | Éder Lima |
10 | Falcão |
10 |
| 2021 Lithuania | Ferrão |
9 | Pany Varela |
8 | Taynan da Silva |
6 |
| 2024 Uzbekistan |
Golden Glove Award
The Golden Glove Award is given to the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
| World Cup | Golden Glove |
|---|---|
| 2008 Brazil | Tiago |
| 2012 Thailand | Stefano Mammarella |
| 2016 Colombia | Nicolás Sarmiento |
| 2021 Lithuania | Nicolás Sarmiento |
| 2024 Uzbekistan |
Goal of the Tournament
The Goal of the Tournament award is given to the player who scores the most amazing goal during the competition.
| Tournament | Goal of the Tournament |
|---|---|
| 2008 Brazil | José Rafael Gonzalez |
| 2012 Thailand | Suphawut Thueanklang |
| 2016 Colombia | Suphawut Thueanklang |
| 2021 Lithuania | Nguyễn Văn Hiếu |
| 2024 Uzbekistan |
FIFA Fair Play Award
The FIFA Fair Play Award is given to the team that shows the best sportsmanship and follows the rules of fair play throughout the tournament.
| Tournament | FIFA Fair Play Award |
|---|---|
| 1989 Netherlands | United States |
| 1992 Hong Kong | United States |
| 1996 Spain | Not awarded |
| 2000 Guatemala | |
| 2004 Taiwan | |
| 2008 Brazil | Spain |
| 2012 Thailand | Argentina |
| 2016 Colombia | Vietnam |
| 2021 Lithuania | Kazakhstan |
| 2024 Uzbekistan |
FIFA Champions Badge
Since 2012, the winners of the FIFA Futsal World Cup also get a special FIFA Champions Badge. This badge shows that they are the current world champions. Brazil was the first team to receive this badge.
Winning Coaches
These are the coaches who led their teams to victory in the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
| Year | Team | Coach |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Brazil |
Gerson Tristão |
| 1992 | Brazil |
Takão |
| 1996 | Brazil |
Takão |
| 2000 | Spain |
Javier Lozano |
| 2004 | Spain |
Javier Lozano |
| 2008 | Brazil |
Paulo de Oliveira |
| 2012 | Brazil |
Marcos Sorato |
| 2016 | Argentina |
Diego Giustozzi |
| 2021 | Portugal |
Jorge Braz |
| 2024 |
See also
In Spanish: Copa Mundial masculina de fútbol sala de la FIFA para niños
- AMF Futsal World Cup
- Futsal Confederations Cup
- Women's Futsal World Tournament
- FIFA Women's Futsal World Cup
