Taiwan will host 2004 Futsal Worldcup

SW - FIFA has declared that Taiwan will host the 2004 Futsal World Cup. Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Paraguay, Thailand, and Iran had all bidded to host the event.

But with the success of the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan and this year's Women's World Cup in China, FIFA felt Taiwan would be the right place to host the 5th Futsal tournament.

Futsal is a 5-a-side (1 goalkeeper, 4 field players) game played on an indoor basketball court without sideboards and played with a small low-bounce ball. And there are 2 20min halves, with unlimited substitutions.

Futsal was started in S.America in the 1930's and Brazil has won the first 3 Futsal WC's: Holland'89, Hong Kong'92, and Spain'96. Brazil was in the final of Guatemala '00 but lost in the final 4-3 to Spain.

Futsal is played in over 80 countries and has strong leagues in Brazil, Spain, Italy, and Russia, in fact those countries have more registered futsal players than soccer players.