19 October 2019 – The South African FUTSAL Men’s National Team is in camp to prepare for the crucial qualifiers of the Futsal Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2020.
South Africa will face Mauritius in two-legged play off matches – the first taking place away in Port Louis at the Phoenix Gymnasium on Saturday, 26 October 2019.
The return leg is scheduled for Wednesday, 30 October at the Orlando Community Hall in Soweto.
Kickoff for the second leg is 19h30.
South Africa has named a provisional team of 18 players, but will be trimmed down to 14 before they travel to Mauritius on Tuesday, 22 October.
Eight nations will play at the 2020 AFCON Futsal tournament, which will be hosted by Egypt from 28 January – 10 February.
The winner between South Africa and Mauritius will join the already qualified hosts, Morocco, as well as Egypt, Mozambique and Guinea.
Egypt secured direct qualification to the tournament as they currently sit on top of the African and Arab Futsal ranking.
The Pharaohs, who last won the tournament in 2004, are the most successful team in AFCON history with three titles.
The other three spots for AFCON will be completed when Libya takes on Algeria, Zambia go toe to toe with Angola and Cameroon locking horns with Equatorial Guinea.
The top three at the tournament will represent the African continent at the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup, which will be held in Lithuania from 12 September to 4 October.
The World Cup draw is expected to take place either in November or December.
AFCON FUTSAL 2020:
- The2020 Africa Futsal Cup of Nations will be the 6th edition of the Africa Futsal Cup of Nations
- The quadrennial international futsal championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men’s national teams of Africa
- The tournament will be held in Morocco
- Same as previous editions, the tournament acts as the CAF qualifiers for the FIFA Futsal World Cup (except for 2012 when a separate qualifying tournament was organized as the 2011 African Futsal Championship was cancelled)
- The top three teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania as the CAF representatives
- Morocco are the defending champions.
WORLD CUP FUTSAL 2020:
- The2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup will be the 9th edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup
- The quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men’s national teams of the member associations of FIFA
- It is due to be held from 12 September to 4 October 2020 in Lithuania
- It will mark the first time Lithuania have ever hosted a FIFA tournament and the first time in Europe since1996 in Spain
- A total of 24 teams qualify for the final tournament
- In addition to Lithuania who qualifies automatically as host, 23 other teams qualify from six separate continental competitions
- Argentina are the defending champions.
FACTS ABOUT FUTSAL:
- Futsal(also known as fútsal or footsal) is a variant of association football played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors
- It features similarities to five-a-side football
- Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper
- Unlimited substitutions are permitted
- Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines; walls or boards are not used
- Futsal is also played with a smaller, harder, low-bounce ball
- The surface, ball and rules together favour ball control and passing in small spaces
- The game’s “emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique.”
SA FUTSAL Provisional squad:
| Wiseman | Cele |
| Radlin Dwayne | Sanssoucie |
| Royce Craig | Billings |
| Sabelo Talent | Mazibuko |
| Yazeed | Joharie |
| Nhlakanipho | Magcaba |
| Muziwakhe | Mazibuko |
| Quincy Thamsanqa | Ngcobo |
| Tsepo | Liphuko |
| Renaldo Fred | Donnelly |
| Jon-Marc Brian | Ryan |
| Gareth | Simes |
| Thabang | Masilo |
| Simphiwe Michael | Mgedezi |
| Curtis | Dos Santos |
| Simphiwe | Ndzimbovu |
| Donavan | Gordon |
| Enva | Wiltwer |