Africa’s top Futsal nations will jostle for three FIFA Futsal World Cup spots when they meet in the 6th edition of the tournament to be held in Laayoun, Morocco.
Eight nations descend upon the north African country and begin their quest to book places at the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup on Tuesday, 28th January, 2020 with the final set for February 7th, 2020.
Futsal is a variant of association football played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football.
Ghana took part in the maiden Futsal Nations Cup in 1996 and finished runners up. They have not participated in the finals of the tournament since then.
Hosts, Morocco, are the defending champions and will face off with Libya, Equatorial Guinea and debutantes Mauritius in Group A. Group B pits record three-time champions Egypt, Guinea, Angola and Mozambique.
“We are delighted as a country to be hosting this event. We believe because of our readiness and existing facilities, CAF has seen it fit for us to once again play host to one of their prestigious tournaments where the top three coming from this tournament will head to the World Cup in Lithuania later this year,” read a Morocco Royal Football Federation statement.
The federation is hopeful that hosting the event will give more impetus on the sport growing in the north African country.
Egypt, who last won the tournament in 2004, are the most successful team in African Futsal history with three titles.
However, in the previous edition Morocco emerged 3-2 winners after a tightly contested match and will be hoping to retain the trophy on home soil.
The event is held under the auspices of the CAF for the men’s national teams.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals. Semi-final winners and third-place winners qualify for 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup. The qualifying three African teams will make up the 24 countries at the World Cup. The 2020 World Cup is scheduled for September 12 to October 4 in Lithuania.