News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 17 April (BelTA) – The teams of Belarus and Brazil will open the 11^th AMF Futsal Men’s World Cup at Minsk Arena on 17 April, BelTA informs.

The game is scheduled for 7pm (live broadcast on Belarus 2 TV Channel). The game will be preceded by an official opening ceremony of the world’s sport forum.

The schedule of other games in Group A is as follows:

18 April

Uruguay vs Australia (5pm; Palace of Sports, Minsk);

19 April

Brazil vs Australia (6pm, Ice Palace, Molodechno),

Belarus vs Uruguay (5pm, Palace of Sports, Minsk);

20 April

Uruguay vs Brazil (6pm, Palace of Sports, Minsk),

Belarus vs Australia (8pm, Palace of Sports, Minsk).

According to Belarus’ head coach Sergei Safonov, his team has every chance to reach the playoff, although the rivals, especially Latin Americans, are very strong and will do their best to grab the trophy. The strongest rival of Sergei Safonov’s men is Brazil that clinched the world’s champion title in 1982 and 1985. Team Uruguay won silver in 1997. Australia has no AMF Futsal Men’s World Cup titles. Belarus reached the quarterfinal of the world championship in 1997, 2007 and 2011, and won the European championship gold in 2004, 2014. The country collected bronze in 2008.

Following the group stage, the top team in Group A will face the second best team in Group B in the quarterfinal. The second team in Group A will play the winner in Group B. Group B will comprise the teams of Paraguay, Belgium, Norway, and Morocco. These teams will play in Minsk, Molodechno and Borisov.

Group C (based in Brest) makes up the teams of Columbia, Czech Republic, Venezuela, and Curacao. Group D (Pinsk) includes the teams of Argentina, Russia, Slovakia, and Kyrgyzstan.

The quarterfinal games will be held at the Palace of Sports and Brest’s Victoria Sport Complex on 22 April. The semifinals (24 April) and medal games (25 April) will take place at Minsk Arena.

The organizers of the world’s sport forum decided to host the tournament in five cities in order to get foreign guests and fans familiar with Belarus and its sport infrastructure. The participants and guests of the 2015 AMF Futsal World Cup will have every condition for playing and resting. Hospitality zones will be available for fans. Chairman of the 2015 AMF Futsal World Cup organizing committee, First Vice President of the National Olympic Committee Maxim Ryzhenkov noted that the interest in the forthcoming competitions is big in all the hosting cities. Among the most popular are tickets for the games of the Belarusian national team and the medal fixtures.

Only two out of the previous ten world championships were held in Europe. Spain hosted the event in 1985 and Italy was the host of the 1991 AMF Futsal World Cup. Australia hosted the competitions only once, in 1988. The others took place in the countries of Latin America: Argentina (1994, 2007), Brazil (1982), Mexico (1997), Bolivia (2000), Paraguay (2003), and Columbia (2011). Team Paraguay is a three-time world champion (1988, 2003, 2007). Brazil celebrated the victory in 1982 and 1985. Columbia won the gold in 2002 and 2011. Portugal, Argentina and Venezuela became world champions in 1991, 1994 and 1997 respectively.