Our team, which won fourth place in its debut world championship, starts the competition with high ambitions

The minifootball world championship kicked off today in Baku. Interesting matches are expected at the National Gymnastics Arena, where 32 teams will compete for the championship title. The host nation, Azerbaijan, is also considered one of the main favorites. Our team, which finished 4th in the mundial two years ago, when it participated for the first time, is starting the competition with even greater goals this time.

Idman.biz reports that the world championship itself is already a big event, and the organizers have made serious preparations accordingly.

Azerbaijan has been hosting the highest level of sports competitions for many years, and in this regard, the current world championship may be one of the best tournaments in history. Moreover, the mundial is only being held for the fifth time. Although the Romanian team is the last champion, the USA, Czech Republic and Mexico teams have previously celebrated victory. The newest history of minifootball will be written this time in Baku, and the start of the tournament looks quite interesting.

The Azerbaijani national team starts the home mundial with great hopes. Our team has already achieved success in the international arena: it became the European champion in 2022, and took 4th place in its debut at the world championship. Now, the goal is to be among the award winners at least and to please local fans with the most successful performance possible.

Head coach Elshad Guliyev also emphasized before the competition that the team is psychologically ready: "All players feel the responsibility and you will see it on the field. Winning is not our absolute goal, but everyone will do their best."

Of course, which team wouldn't want to be world champion? The captain of the home team, Elvin Alizade, does not hide this desire either. He has already become the European champion with the national team and the winner of the Champions League in minifootball with the "Beerbash" club.

The Azerbaijani national team will start its performance at the world championship today with a match against Bahrain. Other opponents in the group stage will be Slovenia (May 23) and Mauritania (May 25). The first two teams in the groups will qualify for the 1/8 finals.

Meanwhile, the first matches of the world championship were low-scoring. France defeated Chad with a single goal (1:0), and the Hungary-Turkey match ended with a score of 1:1.

Zaki Feyzullayev
Idman.biz