BY ROMULUS HUTA
THE national under-17 futsal side destined for October’s Youth Olympic Games in Argentina will know their pool opponents by August 23.
This follows the announcement made by FIFA regarding the schedule for the men’s and women’s futsal tournaments at the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games.
Participating as the sole Oceania representative in the futsal competition, Solomon Islands join Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Costa Rica, Panama, Italy and Russia for the men’s event. The final two teams to make up the total of 10 teams for the men’s are yet to be decided.
The 10 teams will be drawn into two pools of five teams – A and B.
For the women’s, competing teams are Japan, Thailand, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Colombia, Tonga, Portugal and Spain, and they will be drawn into two pools of five each as well.
According to the outline announced by FIFA, the top two in each pool will progress to the semi-finals.
Action will take place across two venues, the Main Futsal Hall and the CeNARD Hall in Buenos Aires.
Football’s world governing body have confirmed that matches will begin the day after the Opening Ceremony on October 7.
There will be seven days of group play, concluding on October 13 before a rest day.
The semi-finals will then be held on October 15, before the second rest day of the schedule.
October 17 will see the women’s gold and bronze medal matches, before the men’s a day later on the day of the Closing Ceremony.
