The 2022 FISU World University Championship Futsal ends with Hitchcockian thrillers

The men’s team from Brazil and the women’s team from Portugal won the gold medal at the 2022 FISU World University Championship Futsal held in Braga-Guimarães (Portugal). They edged past Ukraine and Brazil, respectively, in finals that were highly disputed and tensed until the very end.

The Brazilian women team will long regret its passivity and lost focus at the end of a match it mostly dominated head and shoulders and should never have lost. Trailing 1-5 at half-time, the Portuguese squad fully exploited some Brazilian complacency towards the end of the match and managed an improbable comeback at the very last second. The score remained unchanged at 5-5 after the extra time and Portugal eventually won the penalty shootout lottery.   

Beaten 6-3 by Brazil in the men’s group phase, Ukraine took the bull by the horns in the final game of the tournament and pushed the “Auriverde” to their limits. The Brazilians needed the extra time and a bit of luck to prevail at the end (6-4). But few will argue with the fact that they deserved the title, given their supremacy during the whole competition.   

Portugal (men) and Poland (women) took the bronze medals.

The finals at a glance:

Gold medal match, men: Brazil-Ukraine, 6-4 ET (4-4, 2-2)

Gold medal match, women: Portugal-Brazil, 5-4 P (5-5, 5-5, 1-5)

Bronze medal match, men: Portugal-Czech Republic, 5-3 (4-1)

Bronze medal match, women: Poland-New Zealand, 5-0 (4-0)