Luxol set to take part in UEFA Futsal Champions League elite round next week

A hugely daunting task lies ahead for the local Futsal Champions Luxol St. Andrews Futsal team who nonetheless will surely relish the opportunity to participate for the very first time ever for a Maltese side in the Elite Round of the most glamorous European Futsal competition, the UEFA Futsal Champions League.

Luxol has been pitted in Group C to be contested in Kazakhstan, with local Champions Kairat Almaty, FK Chrudim from the Czech Republic, and one of Europe’s superpowers in Futsal, Portuguese Champions Benfica.

This milestone journey in the Elite Round of competition for Luxol gets underway on Wednesday facing Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan.

Benfica is next the following day, before rounding proceedings off on Saturday 26 crossing swords with Czech side FK Chrudim.

This is a unique opportunity for Luxol Futsal to compete at the very highest standards of international Futsal, as no Maltese side before has ever managed this feat and performed at this level.

Luxol has received a lot of plaudits both in terms of logistics/organisation and performance/results on the pitch for their truly magnificent and overwhelming Main Group round hosted in Malta.

Another step forward in what this Futsal Club is vying to achieve going forward in the years to come.

In the Main Round at the University Sports Hall, Luxol were smart enough to secure second place in a group that saw three teams qualifying for the Elite Round.

They obtained four points following an emphatic 5-1 win over Dutch Champions Hovocubo, and a commendable performance against Slovenian side Dobovec, seeing them harshly denied the victory with a freak goal towards the end of the match in a 1-1 draw result.

The final match with Barcelona was always going to be tough, a fixture that was all about the joy of qualification and the glamour of facing one of the top teams in the world, ultimately the Spanish giants emerged 7-1 winners.

Coach Gabri Dobre will once again rely on the experience of foreign players in this team, led by long-serving individuals in the side, Emil Raducu, Celino, Everton Veve, Maicon Da Silva, and Marwan Tellisi.

Target ahead being realistic enough is clearly not qualification from this phase of the best sixteen teams in Europe, but avoiding heavy defeats and perhaps notching a draw or indeed a victory is surely in sight for this dynamic team over this outstanding journey they have endured this year 2022 in the UEFA Futsal Champions League.