Short answers, pulled from the story.
The South American Futsal Confederation formed in 1965 with five nations: Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil. FIFA recognized the sport as a new discipline unofficially in 1986 before granting official status two years later in 1988.
Twenty-four national teams now appear in the final tournament after expanding from sixteen participants starting in 2012. The format includes six groups of four teams where top two finishers advance plus four highest-ranked third-place teams to create a sixteen-team knockout stage.
Brazil dominates with seven titles including victories in 1989, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2012, and 2021. Spain has secured three championships while Italy holds two titles from 1995 and 2003.
Falcão tops the all-time goal-scoring list with forty-eight goals scored across five tournaments between 2000 and 2016. Manoel Tobias follows closely with forty-three goals achieved during four competitions from 1992 through 2004.
The inaugural tournament took place in the Netherlands during 1989 featuring just six teams from Europe alongside three from South America. Two teams arrived from Africa while Asia sent representatives along with North and Central America and Oceania contributed only one participant to this initial gathering.