UEFA Futsal Euro lives up to the hype
Ljubljana, 17 December - Ljubljana hosted in February the UEFA Futsal Euro, arguably the biggest football-related event the country has ever organised. The event in Stožice Arena lived up to the hype, with futsal wizard Ricardinho of Portugal being the star of the tournament and powering his team to the title, while hosts Slovenia matched their best result at European championships by making it to the quarter-finals.
Ljubljana
The Portuguese national futsal team wins the 2018 UEFA Futsal Euro in Slovenia
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
The darlings of the tournament because of their flashy play, Portugal beat seven-time champions Spain in the finals to win their first Futsal Euro title. Ricardinho, nicknamed the Magician, finished the tournament as the most valuable player and the best scorer with seven goals.
Slovenians also presented themselves to the home fans in a good light, making it to the quarter finals out of a group that also featured Serbia and Italy, to get eliminated by the superpower Russia.
In the ten competition days, the overall attendance was 101,934, only a few thousand short from the record attendance in Serbia two years ago. The tournament also hopefully boosted the development of the indoor sport in Slovenia, which has a number of successful semi-professional clubs which compete in top-level European competitions.