New Zealand Men Finish 10th at FISU World University Futsal Championship

The New Zealand Men’s University Futsal Team has completed its campaign at the 2026 FISU World University Championship Futsal in Warsaw, Poland, finishing 10th overall after a demanding week of international competition.

Held from 1–7 July, the championship brought together 16 men’s teams and some of the world’s leading university futsal talent. New Zealand competed in partnership with New Zealand Football, with a 14-player squad representing six New Zealand universities. The side also included five players with previous Futsal Whites experience.

Drawn in a challenging Group D alongside Slovakia, Saudi Arabia and Lithuania, New Zealand faced three strong international opponents during the opening stage. The team finished fourth in the group, narrowly missing progression to the quarter-finals, but continued to build across the tournament and produced its strongest performances during the classification matches.

New Zealand opened the 9th–16th-place classification stage with an emphatic 5–1 victory over Cyprus, before defeating Georgia 2–0 to advance to the playoff for ninth place. The final match of the campaign was another closely contested encounter, with Finland securing a narrow 2–1 win and New Zealand completing the championship in 10th position.

The result followed New Zealand’s ninth-place finish at the 2024 championship and provided the players with valuable experience against high-quality international opposition. Throughout the week, the squad demonstrated resilience, continued development and pride in representing both New Zealand and their respective universities on the world stage.

New Zealand’s contribution to the championship also extended beyond the playing squad. Chris Sinclair was appointed as referee for the men’s gold-medal final between Brazil and Portugal, a significant international officiating honour. The entertaining final saw Brazil defeat Portugal 8–5 to claim the world university title, with Portugal taking silver and host nation Poland securing bronze.

UTSNZ congratulates the players, coaches, management and Chris Sinclair on their achievements in Poland and acknowledges New Zealand Football for its partnership and support throughout the campaign.

View the photo gallery

All official FISU photographs from the championship are available through the UTSNZ Flickr gallery.

Full event results can be found here.