The Northern Ireland senior men’s futsal team will face Poland as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina in the main qualification round for the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2028.
Back in April the Northern Ireland team made history by reaching the main qualification round for the first time.
Poland will be the top seeds in the group (Group 5), with the Bosnians the second seeds. Poland are currently ranked 27th in the world (FIFA Futsal Men’s World Ranking) compared to the Bosnians in 46th place and Northern Ireland in 117th place.
The draw for the main round group phase of European qualifying for the 2028 FIFA Futsal World Cup was made at UEFA HQ in Nyon.
Northern Ireland were among 12 preliminary round qualifiers who joined 24 teams entering directly in the main round. Both the Poles and the Bosnians were direct entrants.
The 36 teams in the main round were drawn into 12 groups of three, with home-and-away fixtures to be played between December this year and next March.
The 12 group winners and the four best runners-up will then qualify for the elite round, while the remaining eight runners-up qualify for main round play-offs.
By the time qualifying ends in April 2028 seven European teams will be confirmed in the final tournament, however if a UEFA country is selected as host and gains an automatic place then only six spots will be decided by qualifying.
In the preliminary round, staged at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, Northern Ireland’s campaign began with a narrow 3-2 defeat to eventual group winners Sweden before they registered a landmark 7-5 victory over England. It was their first ever win in a World Cup qualifying match.
Enrique Guillen’s side then drew 3-3 with Switzerland, which was enough to ensure they finished second in the group and advanced to the main round along with the Swedes.
The Northern Ireland squad in Loughborough featured: Matthew McErlain (GK), Zach Tolmie (GK), Caolan Dobney, Adam Barr (captain), Danny Stapleton, Ryan McMenemy, Conor Kernohan, Connor Millar, Darius Roohi, Declan Starrs, Josh Lowry, Nathan Best, Kenzie Beattie, Lee McMenemy. Head coach: Enrique Guillen.
