The Portuguese, however, experienced a slight shock – shortly after eight minutes had been played, Pani Varela directed the ball into his own fortress. The Belgians were in control for less than five minutes, the representative of the “Riga” club, Bruno Coelho, soon made it 1:1, and the same Varel gave the advantage to the southerners in the 17th minute. A minute before the end of the half, the futsalist of Lisbon “Benfica” Andre Coelho strengthened the advantage. Shortly before the break Bruno Coelho made pendant lights save by Dees Vranken.
After the break, the Southerners hit five more balls, in the last second of the game hat-trick settling for Varel. On the 341st day of his 36th year, he became the oldest indoor football player to score three goals in one match in this competition.
Portugal’s hat-trick hero: Pany Varela 🇵🇹✨@carlsberg | #FEUROPOTM pic.twitter.com/gky5e2gSDv
— UEFA Futsal (@UEFAFutsal) February 1, 2026
In the later duel, the seven-time European and two-time world champion Spain scored twice in each of the 20-minute halves. In the 12th minute, Francisco Cortes put the Spanish in front, 51 seconds before the break, Antonio Perez started the way towards Voice-Overbut four minutes before the final siren, the Italian naturalized Brazilian Gabriel Mota put the ball into his own.
European championship in indoor football. Quarterfinals (Riga, Latvia; Kaunas, Lithuania; Ljubljana, Slovenia)
| The date | The game | The outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 31.01. | France – Ukraine | 4:2 p.l. (0:0; 1:1) |
| Armenia – Croatia | 0:3 (0:3) | |
| 01.02. | Portugal – Belgium | 8:2 (3:1) |
| Spain – Italy | 4:0 (2:0) |
Semi-final (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
| The date | Time | The game |
|---|---|---|
| 04.02. | 17.00 | France – Portugal |
| 20.30 | Croatia – Spain |
Competition website:
https://www.uefa.com/futsaleuro/
Worth a look
