Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 16 April (BelTA) – President of the International Futsal Federation (AMF) Rolando Alarcon Rios emphasized the importance of the AMF Futsal World Cup returning to the European continent. He made the statement at a press conference organized ahead of the start of the tournament in Belarus on 16 April, BelTA has learned.

“Last time Europe hosted the AMF Futsal World Cup was in 1991. The tournament returns to the European continent 24 years later. With great optimism we are looking on the readiness of the stadiums and the preparations in general. All the work done by the organizers gives optimism. The International Futsal Federation hopes that the competitions will be held on the highest level, hopes for a big interest from fans and wide media coverage of the event,” Mr Rolando Alarcon Rios told media.

Speaking about the plans on his stay in Belarus, Mr Rolando Alarcon Rios noted that he would attend the official opening ceremony of the tournament at Minsk Arena on 17 April. Mr Rolando Alarcon Rios also plans to visit Brest and Pinsk. He is unlikely to pay a visit to Borisov and Molodechno due to a tight schedule. On 16 April the AMF President was given a tour around the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War.

The AMF President stressed that he was glad that Belarus had been given the right to host the world sport forum. “The country has a good sport infrastructure, a big number of hotels and I see that great efforts are taken to organize the championship on the highest level,” he said.

Mr Rolando Alarcon Rios also talked about the possibility of including futsal into the Olympic Games program. In his words, the international federation has been conducting the relevant work to make futsal an Olympic discipline in the future. “Futsal is played on five continents. Teams from all the five continents will take part in the 2015 AMF Futsal World Cup in Belarus. It will make things easer to us to have futsal included into the Olympic program,” the AMF President said.