FIFA Futsal World Cup

The FIFA Futsal World Cup is the international championship for futsal, an indoor version of association football.

The world championship tournament is held every four years, on the even year between two FIFA World Cups. The first event was held in 1989, the year FIFA became the world governing body of futsal. It was held in the Netherlands to commemorate the popularity of the game there. Through the 2008 World Cup, only two countries have taken the Futsal World Cup. Brazil winning the first three, defeating the host Spaniards in 1996 to win their third title, followed by Spain winning the next two, defeating Brazil in 2000, then Italy in 2004 in the first Futsal World Championship final that didn't feature Brazil. In 2008 Brazil became the first host country to win the Championship beating Spain in a penalty shootout. The next event will be held in 2012 with regional qualifying expected to start in mid-2011.

All events prior to the 2008 World Cup has been 16-team events. The first event featured 6 from Europe, 3 from South America, two from Africa, two from Asia, two from North and Central America, and one from Oceania. By 2004, the breakdown was Europe 5 teams, Asia 4 (including the hosts, competing as Chinese Taipei), South America 3, North and Central America 2, Africa and Oceania one each. At 2008 for the first time, 20 teams participate making this the largest edition ever held.

The first stage of the event features four groups of five teams. The top two teams in each group then advance to a second stage of two groups of four teams. This is followed by a four-team knockout final series.