This country has already played host to World Cups at both U-17 and U-20 level and New Zealand Football will soon find out if another of FIFA’s flagship events will take place on these shores with a decision to be made on the 2020 Futsal World Cup by the end of October.

New Zealand is among four countries to still be in the running – the others being Iran, Japan and Lithuania – and the FIFA Council is due to determine the host country when it meets on October 26.

If the persuasive bid proves successful, New Zealand will become the first country in the Oceania region to ever host the prestigious event, which brings together the world’s best exponents of the hugely popular small-sided version of the beautiful game.

It would be a watershed moment for futsal in this country, which has experienced rapid growth since being brought under the umbrella of New Zealand Football in 2010.

Just a decade ago, futsal in New Zealand was a largely unrecognised, low participation sport with a number of private operators running their own futsal businesses and minimal national organisation.

In the years since, New Zealand Football has turned the running of the sport into a fully-integrated, well-managed operation. It now runs as a department of the national body, which rolls out the sport through futsal development departments in each of the country’s seven regional football federations.

There are now nearly 25,000 registered futsal players in the country and it is one of the fastest-growing team sports in the secondary school system.

“New Zealand Football and its federations have worked hard over the past eight years to establish futsal as a sporting option of choice for Kiwis,” Futsal Development Manager Josh Margetts says.

“Hosting the pinnacle event of futsal will not only showcase our beautiful country but will also serve to share our learnings of developing an emerging sports system with the world. It would go a long way to achieving our goal of making futsal the nation’s best and biggest small-sided sport, as well as our futsal development programme being regarded as a world leader.”

The necessary facilities and infrastructure are already in place and, crucially, New Zealand has previously proven its ability to organise and run FIFA tournaments seamlessly after hosting the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Cup, 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The bid is supported by the New Zealand Government and the Oceania Football Confederation, the latter of whom New Zealand Football will work alongside in creating legacy opportunities that serve the whole region in the event of a successful bid.

New Zealand is yet to compete in a FIFA Futsal World Cup and the Futsal Whites are currently ranked 68^th in the world.

The FIFA Futsal World Cup is a hugely significant event from a broadcasting point of view with television coverage reaching around 140 million people all over the world. Attendance-wise, Brazil topped the overall record in 2008 with a total of over 292,000 spectators.

Article added: Friday 12 October 2018