FC Porto is set to enter the world of futsal with the creation of a senior men's team, which will begin competition in the 2026/27 season, directly in the 3rd Division National Championship. This entry is made possible by a new regulation from the Portuguese Football Federation, published this Wednesday. From next season, the competition will feature 50 clubs, with up to three places available for emblems that appear in the top 20 of professional football competitions over the past five seasons, a criterion that the dragons meet. The regulation, in its clause 1.3, specifies that up to three clubs from the ranking of the 20 clubs with the best average classification in professional football competitions between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 seasons and that, in the 2025/26 season, do not have a senior futsal team participating in the National Championship of the I, II or III Divisions of Futsal and that meet the participation criteria in the competition, in accordance with the respective Regulation, including obtaining the required certification level. In the inaugural season, in 2026/27, the 3rd Division National Futsal Championship will be composed of 50 teams, divided into three series of 14 clubs each, organized by geographical proximity, in addition to an Azores series with eight teams. The competition format provides for a first phase in which the clubs of each series face each other twice. The first-placed team in each of the three continental series guarantees direct promotion to the Second Division. The second-placed teams, together with the winner of the Azores series, will compete in a playoff in a neutral venue, with two eliminators, to determine another promoted team. As for the national championship title of the Third Division, it will be decided in a final phase played in a neutral venue, where the three winners of the continental series will face each other once to determine the winner.