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Laman Ismayilova

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Azerbaijani FIFA referee Hikmat Gafarli has been appointed to officiate the UEFA Futsal EURO 2026 Group B encounter between Ukraine and Lithuania, Azernews reports.

The match is scheduled to take place on January 25 at Žalgirio Arena in Kaunas.

The UEFA European Futsal Championship is the main futsal competition of the men's national futsal teams governed by UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations)

The first tournament was held in Spain in 1996 and featured only six teams. The tournament was expanded to eight teams in 1999 and held every two years, and further to 12 teams in 2010.

After 2018, the tournament was expanded to 16 teams and held every four years, to avoid leap years when the FIFA Futsal World Cup is being played. The first 16-team tournament was held in 2022 in the Netherlands.

Notably, futsal is a ball sport played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football.

The game is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. 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.

The 2026 UEFA Futsal Championship will be the 13th edition of the UEFA Futsal Championship, the international futsal championship organised by UEFA for the men's national teams of Europe.

This will be the second tournament to be held on a four-year basis and featuring 16 teams after 2022. It will take place between 18 January and 8 February 2026.

The tournament will be in Latvia and Lithuania, marking the first time the tournament will be co-hosted.

Portugal are the two-time defending champions after previously won in 2018 and 2022.