Croatia struck twice inside 23 late seconds in Poland to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the first leg of their play-off for a place at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™, while Jordy Creiter’s strike earned the Netherlands a draw at home to Finland.

Sebastian Szadurski erupted the sell-out crowd at the Sports Hall in Koszalin after only 132 seconds, firing Poland ahead. Peric equalised but an unfortunate Marko Kuraja own-goal restored the hosts’ advantage. They held on to it for much of the game, only for quick-fire goals from Peric and David Mataja to snatch Croatia victory.

Jaakko Alasuutari’s 17th-minute goal had Finland in command in Almere, but Creiter netted three minutes from time to leave it wide open.

“We were searching for goals in this match but as the scoreboard shows, we didn’t succeed more than once,” Netherlands player Said Bouzambou told FIFA. “We didn’t create enough clear chances. It was very difficult against this team. But overall I think we can leave tonight with a good feeling for our trip to Finland.”

France, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine have already qualified for the 10th FIFA Futsal World Cup. The French will make their competition debut, while the Portuguese will defend the title they won at Lithuania 2021.

Netherlands seized silver at the first FIFA Futsal World Cup, appeared in its opening four editions, but have missed its last five. Croatia and Poland have played in one edition of the tournament apiece, in 2000 and 1992 respectively, and Finland have never qualified.