2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification (UEFA)

2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Tournament details
Dates	22 October 2015 – 13 April 2016
Teams	45 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	89
Goals scored	539 (6.06 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Cardinal (8 goals)
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The UEFA qualifying competition for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup was a men's futsal competition that determined the seven European national teams taking part in the final tournament in Colombia.^[1]

The national teams from a total of 45 UEFA member associations entered the qualifying competition. Denmark, Gibraltar, Sweden and Wales made their FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying debuts.^[2]

Format

The qualifying competition consisted of three rounds:^[3]

Preliminary round: The 23 lowest-ranked teams were drawn into five groups of four teams and one group of three teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams which were pre-selected as hosts (if a group was drawn without pre-selected hosts, the hosts were selected afterwards by agreement or draw by UEFA). The six group winners advanced to the main round.
Main round: The 28 teams (22 highest-ranked teams and six preliminary round qualifiers) were drawn into seven groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams which were pre-selected as hosts. The seven group winners and the seven runners-up advanced to the play-offs.
Play-offs: The 14 teams were drawn into seven ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the seven qualified teams.

Tiebreakers

In the preliminary round and main round, the teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:^[3]

Higher number of points obtained in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the mini-tournament matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 10 applied;
Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the mini-tournament, their rankings were determined by a penalty shoot-out (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were not relevant for qualification for the next stage).
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the mini-tournament matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Coefficient ranking;
Drawing of lots.

In the play-offs, the team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualified for the final tournament. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e., the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e., if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out.^[3]

Schedule

The qualifying matches were played on the following dates.^[2]

Stage	Dates
Preliminary round	22–25 October 2015
Main round	10–13 December 2015
Play-offs	22 March & 12 April 2016

Entrants

The teams were ranked according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:^[3]

UEFA Futsal Euro 2012 final tournament and qualifying competition
2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup final tournament and qualifying competition
UEFA Futsal Euro 2014 final tournament and qualifying competition

The 22 highest-ranked teams entered the main round, while the 23 lowest-ranked teams entered the preliminary round.^[2] The coefficient ranking was also used for seeding in the preliminary round and main round draws.

Teams entering main round

Seeding position 1
Team	Coeff	Rank
Spain	8.410	1
Italy (H)	8.278	2
Russia	8.167	3
Portugal (H)	7.000	4
Ukraine	5.889	5
Croatia (H)	4.667	6
Czech Republic (H)	4.528	7

Seeding position 2
Team	Coeff	Rank
Serbia	4.528	8
Romania	4.444	9
Slovenia	4.167	10
Azerbaijan	3.722	11
Hungary (H)	2.667	12
Slovakia	2.556	13
Netherlands (H)	2.167	14

Seeding position 3
Team	Coeff	Rank
Belarus	2.111	15
Belgium	1.944	16
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.778	17
Turkey (H)	1.722	18
Kazakhstan	1.667	19
Poland	1.444	20
North Macedonia	1.333	21

Seeding position 4
Team	Coeff	Rank
Norway	1.222	22

Teams entering preliminary round

Seeding position 1
Team	Coeff	Rank
Latvia	1.167	23
France	1.056	24
Finland	1.000	25
Georgia	0.917	26
Greece	0.833	27
Israel (H)	0.833	28

Seeding position 2
Team	Coeff	Rank
Moldova	0.694	29
England	0.667	30
Montenegro	0.611	31
Lithuania (H)	0.611	32
Bulgaria	0.611	33
Armenia	0.444	34

Seeding position 3
Team	Coeff	Rank
Andorra	0.389	35
Albania	0.389	36
Sweden	0.333	37
Cyprus (H)	0.333	38
Denmark	0.222	39
Switzerland	0.222	40

Seeding position 4
Team	Coeff	Rank
Gibraltar	0.111	42
Estonia	0.000	43
Wales	0.000	44
Malta	0.000	45
San Marino	0.000	46

Notes

Iceland (Coeff: 0.222; Rank 41), Republic of Ireland (Coeff: 0.000; Rank 47), Austria (no rank), Faroe Islands (no rank), Germany (no rank), Liechtenstein (no rank), Luxembourg (no rank), Northern Ireland (no rank), and Scotland (no rank) did not enter.
Gibraltar entered despite being a non-FIFA member and thus ineligible for the World Cup.
Teams which were pre-selected as preliminary round or main round hosts were denoted by (H). As only three teams were pre-selected as preliminary round hosts, three preliminary round groups were drawn without pre-selected hosts, and the hosts would be selected afterwards by agreement or draw by UEFA.

The draws for the preliminary round and main round were held on 2 July 2015, 14:30 CEST (UTC+2), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[4]^[5] Each group in the preliminary round and main round contained one team from each of the seeding positions 1–4, except for one group in the preliminary round which contained one team from each of the seeding positions 1–3. The six teams which qualified from the preliminary round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, were placed in seeding position 4 for the main round draw. In the preliminary round draw, the teams which were pre-selected as hosts could not be drawn in the same group, while in the main round draw, the teams which were pre-selected as hosts were drawn from a separate pot, while being placed in their groups according to their seeding positions.

Preliminary round

Times were CEST (UTC+2), except for matches on 25 October 2015 which were CET (UTC+1).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Moldova (H)	3	2	1	0	21	4	+17	7	Main round
2	Georgia	3	2	1	0	20	4	+16	7
3	Andorra	3	1	0	2	5	12	−7	3
4	Gibraltar	3	0	0	3	5	31	−26	0

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

22 October 2015