The 4th FIFA Futsal World Cup took place from November 18 to December 3, 2000 in the Guatemalan capital Guatemala City . The 16 participating teams played the fourth futsal world champion in 40 games under the auspices of FIFA .
The Spanish team won the World Cup for the first time by beating defending champions Brazil 4: 3 in the final. The Portuguese team beat Russia 4-2 in the third place match. The Brazilian Manoel was named both top scorer and best player of the tournament, just like four years earlier.
Guatemala became the second Central American country after Mexico to host the finals of an official FIFA competition. The tournament was held in two halls in the capital Guatemala City .
The Domo Polideportivo was built within eleven months on the occasion of the Futsal World Cup. The multifunctional arena was the main venue for the tournament. A total of 28 games were played in the Domo, including all the games in the intermediate and final round and twelve games in the preliminary round. The hall held 7,500 spectators and also offered space for 100 media representatives. The hall is located in the 13th district.
In the Gimansio Teodoro Palacio Flores twelve preliminary round games took place. The hall was completely renovated and modernized for the tournament. The changing area was completely rebuilt, the ventilation and water system renovated, the grandstands were expanded to include press and VIP seats and a new hall floor was laid. Up to 5,000 spectators could watch the games in the hall located in the 5th district.
Attendees
A total of 63 associations competed for the 15 final round places, 16 more than four years earlier. Guatemala to host was automatically qualified.
In Europe there were five qualification groups with five or six teams each, in which the group winners qualified. Somewhat surprisingly, Portugal prevailed against the favored Italy and Croatia against the Czech Republic. In addition, runner-up world champions Spain, the Netherlands and Russia qualified.
In South America, the qualifiers were determined as part of the Futsal South American Championship 2000 . Nine of the ten CONMEBOL members took part in the competition (only Colombia was missing), South American champions and defending champions Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, who prevailed in the game for third place against Bolivia, qualified.
Eight nations competed for the two other CONCACAF places, which were played at the 2000 CONCACAF Futsal Championship . In addition to tournament winners Costa Rica, Cuba also qualified for the final tournament. The United States missed the finals for the first time as third in the tournament.
Once again there was only one place available for Africa. Four teams (and thus one less than in 1996) played the title of Africa champion in Cairo and at the same time determined the Africa representative for the World Cup finals. The Egyptian team was able to use the home advantage and won the 2000 Futsal African Championship without losing points .
In Asia, the participants were played during the 2000 Asian Futsal Cup . Besides Iran, Kazakhstan and tournament host Thailand qualified. The Japanese team narrowly missed qualifying as fourth.
In Oceania there was a qualifying tournament in Vanuatu at the end of August 1999, which was also the Oceania Championship . As in 1996, Australia dominated the tournament and won without losing points and 41: 4 goals.
It was the first time that hosts Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Portugal and Thailand had taken part in a FIFA Futsal World Cup.
The mode remained unchanged compared to the previous World Championships. The 16 teams initially played in four preliminary round groups of four teams each. Within each group, each team played against each other team. The two group best of each group qualified for the second group phase, in which the eight teams were again divided into two groups of four (two preliminary round winners and two preliminary round runners-up per group) and again played a game against each team. The two best in each group qualified for the semi-finals, which took place in the knockout system. If there was a tie during the group stage, the goal difference decided the placement.
Both the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament and the Golden Shoe for the top goalscorer went to Brazilian Manoel Tobias , just like four years earlier . Tobias was again the outstanding goalscorer with 19 goals and 14 assists and was also awarded the Golden Shoe . His team mates Vander (11 goals / 8 assists) and Schumacher (10 goals / 4 assists) received the silver and bronze shoes. Schumacher was also awarded the Silver Ball. The bronze ball went to the Spaniard Daniel . The team from Brazil received the fair play award .
Spain (1st title)
Guatemala
Manoel (19 goals)
yellow cards
Yellow-red cards
Red cards
Croatia
Netherlands
Portugal
Russia
Argentina
Uruguay
Costa Rica
Cuba
Iran
Kazakhstan
Thailand
Egypt
Australia
