VILNIUS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania's football officials rejoiced on Friday the decision by FIFA to select the Baltic country for the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup.
"We are very happy. This is a tremendous honor and huge responsibility for the entire country," said Tomas Danilevicius, the president of Lithuanian football federation (LFF).
At its meeting in Rwanda, the FIFA Council decided that Lithuania will host the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Lithuania competed with Iran, Japan and New Zealand for the right to host the tournament.
It will be the third Futsal World Cup in Europe and the first since 1996 when it was held in Spain.
Lithuania, a small Baltic country with population of less than 3 million, has established itself as a basketball country with its national men's basketball team currently standing 6th in FIBA's world rankings.
At the same time, the Lithuanian national men's football team is 129th in the FIFA's world rankings amid country's long struggle to create its football infrastructure.
During his visit in Lithuania earlier this year, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin named Lithuania's football infrastructure as "one of the weakest in all UEFA".
"We have all the necessary infrastructure, however a hard work lies ahead of us", Danilevicius was quoted in a statement by the LFF following the FIFA decision.
The 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania is scheduled to take place from Sept. 12 to Oct. 4, 2020 with 24 contenders.
Lithuania will be a debut in FIFA or UEFA final tournament at senior level.
