Ukraine and Germany took gold medals in the men’s and women’s finals, respectively, at the second World Deaf Futsal Championship in Sofia. Around 30 teams took part in the competition, jointly staged by The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) and the Bulgarian Deaf Sports Federation.

In the men’s final Ukraine beat Thailand 3:2. In the third-place play-off, Italy drew with Russia 2:2 and finally won 7:5 on penalties. Bulgaria finished in fifth place thanks to a 8:2 win against Sweden. The Netherlands beat Saudi Arabia 14:6 for seventh place.

The Bulgarian team, led by coach Dimitar Stoilov, suffered two last-minute losses - the opening game against Italy and the quarter-final against the eventual champions Ukraine. The team also registered some big wins such as 7:1 against Serbia and 8:1 versus The Netherlands. Fifth place was a significant improvement compared to 12th place at the European Championship 2006 in Russia.

In the women’s final, Germany beat Russia 3:2 to lift the World Cup. England took third place, beating Norway 8:6; fifth place went to Denmark, winning 6:0 over Italy; and Israel were seventh thanks to a 7:2 victory against Turkey.