Futsal, Preliminary Round: first cut in the postseason on Monday

For four teams, the adventure in the 2024-25 San Marino Futsal Championship playoffs will end on Monday evening. At the conclusion of the second-leg fixtures of the Preliminary Round, the four sides that make the cut will join Murata, Pennarossa, La Fiorita and Virtus in the quarter-finals. Unlike the football league postseason, the futsal one has both the title and qualification for the next UEFA Futsal Champions League at stake.

The ties are finely balanced after the first 60 minutes, with the only exception being the Fiorentino derby, where Tre Fiori can build on their 4-2 win in the first leg. Even that advantage is slim in the strict sense: if the aggregate score is level at the end of the second leg, it will be Fiorentino who go through, thanks to their better record in the regular season. Gianni Galli’s men therefore have no option but to win by at least two clear goals. A one-goal victory would instead send their cousins through, the only side to have overturned the positions in the table in last Thursday’s games.

Domagnano will be able to count on their first-leg win (2-1) and on their higher finish in the regular season – which would see them through even in the event of a narrow defeat on Monday night. Gasperoni’s Wolves are targeting another victory over Juvenes-Dogana, who are still in contention thanks to a strike from former player William Cavalli. The Biancorossazzurri will try to overturn the 20-point gap that separated the two sides in the regular season table, but to do so they will need to win by at least two goals.

The other two first-leg matches ended all square, results that Cailungo and Folgore can view with optimism – given they were the underdogs also in light of what was seen over the 28 regular season games. The calculations here are straightforward: if they fail to win the second leg, both will have to give way to Tre Penne and Cosmos – even in the event of another draw.

Here is the full programme for the Preliminary Round: