Malta has been drawn with hosts Georgia in the preliminary round of the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup in which 20 teams from Europe were in the pot.

Other teams in the Malta group are Armenia and Moldova.

Malta coach Vic Hermans said that this was a tough group with all three countries coming from the same region.

"But whichever teams we meet in this preliminary stage it will always be difficult. However, we will prepare the team to the best of our ability."

The lowest-ranked contenders will take part in these preliminary round mini-tournaments between October 19 and 23, with teams moving through to join the higher seeds in the main round.

Seven groups of four teams each will take part in another round between December 14 and 18, with the top two in each pool progressing to the play-off draw scheduled for early next year, when UEFA Futsal EURO 2012 is staged in Croatia.

Europe will have seven places at the expanded 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Twenty-four teams will contend the 7th finals in Thailand from November 2 to 18, 2012.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.