2018–19 UEFA Futsal Champions League


The 2018–19 UEFA Futsal Champions League was the 33rd edition of Europe's premier club futsal tournament, and the 18th edition organized by UEFA. It was also the first edition since the tournament was rebranded from "UEFA Futsal Cup" to "UEFA Futsal Champions League". The final tournament took place at the Almaty Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 26–28 April 2019.
Two-time defending champions Inter FS were unable to defend their title as they succumbed 5–3 to Sporting CP in the semi-finals. Appearing in their third consecutive final, Sporting CP defeated final tournament hosts Kairat 2–1 to claim their first title in the competition. Barcelona beat Inter FS 3–1 to finish in the third place.

Association team allocation

The format remained the same as the previous season, as the top three-ranked associations according to the UEFA Futsal National Team coefficient rankings can enter two teams. The title holders qualified automatically, and thus their association could also enter a second team. If the title holders were from the top three-ranked associations, the fourth-ranked association can also enter two teams. All other associations could enter one team.

Association ranking

For this season, the associations were allocated places according to the coefficient ranking of their men's senior national teams, calculated based on the following:
Since the winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Futsal Cup, Inter FS, were from the top three-ranked associations, the fourth-ranked association could also enter two teams. As a result, Spain, Portugal, Russia and Kazakhstan entered two teams.
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Following expansion of the tournament, the top-ranked teams no longer receive byes to the elite round, and the number of teams in the main round is increased from 24 to 32. Teams are ranked according to their UEFA club coefficients, computed based on results of the last three seasons, to decide on the round they enter:
The elite round remains to be contested by 16 teams, drawn into four groups of four, where the group winners and runners-up from main round Path A are seeded into the top two pots and kept apart if they are from the same group. The winners of each group advance to the final tournament, which is played in the same knockout format between four teams as before.

Teams

A record total of 57 teams from 53 associations entered this season's competition. Two associations had no league as of 2017–18.
The 23 highest-ranked teams entered the main round, while the 34 lowest-ranked teams entered the preliminary round. The coefficient ranking was also used for seeding in the preliminary round and main round draws, where each team was assigned a seeding position according to their ranking for the respective draw. Nine teams were pre-selected as hosts for the preliminary round and eight teams were pre-selected as hosts for the main round.
The draws for the preliminary round and main round were held on 5 July 2018, 14:15 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:
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Format

In the preliminary round, main round, and elite round, each group was played as a round-robin mini-tournament at the pre-selected hosts.
In the final tournament, the four qualified teams played in knockout format, either at a host selected by UEFA from one of the teams, or at a neutral venue if none of the teams wished to host.

Tiebreakers

In the preliminary round, main round, and elite round, teams were ranked according to points, and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings :
  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above ;
  8. Disciplinary points ;
  9. UEFA club coefficient;
  10. Drawing of lots.

    Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.
RoundDrawDates
Preliminary round5 July 201828 August2 September 2018
Main round5 July 20182–7 October 2018
Elite round12 October 201813–18 November 2018
Final tournament[|1] February 2019

In the preliminary round, main round and elite round, the schedule of each group is as follows, with one rest day between matchdays [|2] and [|3] for four-team groups, and no rest days for three-team groups :
Note: For scheduling, the hosts are considered as Team 1, while the visiting teams are considered as Team 2, Team 3, and Team 4 according to their coefficient rankings.
MatchdayMatches Matches
Matchday 12 v 4, 1 v 31 v 3
Matchday 23 v 2, 1 v 43 v 2
Matchday 34 v 3, 2 v 12 v 1

Preliminary round

The winners of each group advance to the main round Path B to join the seven teams which receive byes.
Times are CEST, as listed by UEFA.

Group A

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Group B

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Group [|C]

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Group [|D]

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Group E

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Group F

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Group G

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Group H

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Group I

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Main round

Times are CEST, as listed by UEFA.

Path A

The top three teams of each group in Path A advance to the elite round.

Group 1

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Group 2

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Group 3

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Group 4

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Path B

The winners of each group in Path B advance to the elite round.

Group 5

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Group 6

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Group 7

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Group 8

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Elite round

The draw for the elite round was held on 12 October 2018, 14:00 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four, containing one Path A group winners, one Path A group runners-up, and two teams which were either Path A group third-placed teams or Path B group winners. First, the four teams which were pre-selected as hosts were drawn from their own designated pot and allocated to their respective group as per their seeding positions. Next, the remaining 12 teams were drawn from their respective pot which were allocated according to their seeding positions. Winners and runners-up from the same Path A group could not be drawn in the same group, but third-placed teams could be drawn in the same group as winners or runners-up from the same Path A group. Teams from the same association could be drawn against each other.
GroupWinnersRunners-upThird-placed teams
SeedSeeding position 1Seeding position 2Seeding position 3 or 4
1 Benfica Barcelona ' Halle-Gooik
2 Inter FS Era-Pack Chrudim ' Ekonomac
3 Gazprom-Ugra Yugorsk Dobovec Sibiryak
4 Kairat Sporting CP Lidselmash Lida

The winners of each group advance to the final tournament.
Times are CET, as listed by UEFA.

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Final tournament

The hosts of the final tournament were selected from the four qualified teams. Kairat were chosen as hosts at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Dublin, Republic of Ireland on 3 December 2018, with the final tournament taking place at the Almaty Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 26 and 28 April 2019.

Qualified teams

In the following table, all final tournaments were in the Futsal Cup era. Only final tournaments in four-team format starting from 2007 are shown.
GroupWinnersPrevious final tournament appearances
A Inter FS6
B Barcelona5
C Sporting CP5
D Kairat 7

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Final draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 1 February 2019, at half-time of the Kazakhstan v Croatia friendly, at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty. The four teams were drawn into two semi-finals without any restrictions.

Bracket

In the semi-finals and final, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary; however, no extra time was used in the third place match.
Times are CEST, as listed by UEFA.

Semi-finals

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Third place match

Final

Top goalscorers

  • Preliminary round:
  • Main round:
  • Elite round:
  • Final tournament:
RankPlayerTeamTotal
1 Michał Kubik Rekord Bielsko-Biała43310
2 Ferrão Barcelona5319
2 Oleksandr Bondar Rekord Bielsko-Biała5229
2 Michał Marek Rekord Bielsko-Biała5319
5 Dieguinho Sporting CP1438
5 Edson Kairat3418
5 Nermin Kahvedžić Mostar SG Staklorad448
8 Leandro Esquerdinha Barcelona5117
8 Taynan da Silva Kairat6017
8 Diogo Castro Halle-Gooik437
8 Humberto Inter FS4307
8 Kristian Legiec Uddevalla437
8 Sávio Valadares Informatica Timişoara617

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