Lions 2028 FIFA Futsal World Cup Qualification Opponents Revealed.

Group B of the Men’s 2028 FIFA Futsal World Cup Preliminary Qualifiers will be played 6-10 April 2026 at Loughborough University.

England will host Sweden, Northern Ireland and Switzerland in Group B.

Following this morning’s draw at UEFA HQ in Nyon, England Futsal can confirm that we will face Sweden, Switzerland and Northern Ireland in Group B of the 2028 FIFA Futsal World Cup preliminary qualification round.

The fixtures will be played in a mini-group format at Loughborough University’s Sir David Wallace Sports Hall, 6-10 April 2026.

The group winners and runners-up will qualify for the Main Round, which will be drawn in May 2026 and played between October 2026 and March 2027.

For full details of today’s draw, click here.

Sweden were the top-ranked nation in Friday’s draw and last faced us in a 2015 double header, emerging 3-1 winners in front of 878 supporters at the Copperbox before England roared back 24 hours later with a 7-3 victory, in front of an English record attendance of 1,430. Luke Ballinger scored a hat-trick to become the first England Futsal player to reach 50 goals for his country.

More than a decade later, Sweden return to England ranked 73rd in the FIFA Futsal World Rankings, having narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2026 UEFA Futsal EURO, after finishing 3rd in a group containing Croatia, Greece and Azerbaijan.

120th-ranked Switzerland are a familiar opponent, having played them twice in last season’s 2026 UEFA Futsal Euro qualification campaign. Our 5-1 victory at Loughborough in December 2024 was a memorable night, as Liam Palfreeman scored a hat-trick. We then concluded the group phase out in Yverdon, with Harry Tozer scoring a hat-trick of his own in April’s thrilling 4-4 draw.

A Memorable Night.

Liam Palfreeman scores the first goal of his hat-trick in a 5-1 victory over Switzerland at Loughborough in December 2024.

Northern Ireland complete Group B, as we look forward to welcoming our Home Nations rivals to Loughborough. Currently 125th-ranked in the world, we last faced Northern Ireland in the 2019 Home Nations Tournament at St George’s Park, edging a 10-goal thriller 6-4, with Richard Ward (2), Doug Reed, Raoni Medina, Matt Overton and Jordan Deer all on the scoresheet.

Lions’ Head Coach, John Tapia-Owens, spoke to us following Friday’s draw:

“It’s another great day for English Futsal, especially being able to host a prelims on home soil. It’s a great opportunity.

It’s an interesting draw for us, having played Switzerland twice last year, playing a home nation where most of the players know each other and the highest ranked side in the prelims.

It gives us a challenge, but also an opportunity to cement a real identity against teams around us in the rankings with an exciting squad to give the country something to be proud of.”

We can’t wait to welcome you all to Loughborough in April, to see our Lions roar again on the international stage, as well as the opportunity to watch three other international futsal sides go head to head during the week. That’s SIX games of international futsal in five days.

Be sure to keep updated on our socials and website as more information follows in due course about the events and opportunities available to the community during our week-long ‘Festival of Futsal’ - from coach & referee development, to youth competition & England Futsal Talent Development Pathway fixtures, it will be a jam-packed five days of futsal celebration.