In December 2003, the manager of the England Futsal team, Graeme Dell, put together an initial squad of 25 players selected to take part in a four-day training weekend in Lilleshall, in preparation for the qualifiers for the 2005 UEFA Futsal Championship. They then travelled to Portugal for further training and to play two games against Sporting CP and Sassoeiros. The preliminary selection was then cut down to a final squad of just twelve players who travelled to Albania for the qualifiers in January 2004. England lost both matches, losing 8-6 to Albania and 8-4 to Cyprus.