FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body.

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Founded2005 (2005)
RegionInternational (FIFA)
Number of teams16 (finals)
Current champions Portugal (2nd title)
Most successful team(s) Brazil (5 titles)
WebsiteOfficial website
2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
World cups in beach soccer
Beach Soccer World Championships
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The tournament was preceded by the Beach Soccer World Championships, established in 1995, which took place every year for the next decade under the supervision of Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) and its predecessors. Due to the sport's rapid growth, FIFA took an interest in the sport, and as the main tournament in world beach soccer, it joined hands with BSWW in 2005 to take over the organization of the competition, re-branding it as an official FIFA tournament. Since 2009, the tournament has taken place every two years to allow continental tournaments to flourish without the burden of the World Cup qualifiers crowding the schedule every 12 months. The growing global popularity of beach soccer resulted in FIFA's decision to move the stage of the World Cup from its native home in Brazil to other parts of the globe to capitalise on and continue to stimulate global interest. The first edition held outside Brazil was in 2008 in Marseille, France.

The current tournament format lasts over approximately 10 days and involves 16 teams initially competing in four groups of four teams. The group winners and runners-up advance to a series of knock-out stages until the champion is crowned. The losing semi-finalists play each other in a play-off match to determine the third and fourth-placed teams.

The most recent edition in 2019 was held in Asunción, Paraguay, and crowned Portugal as champions for the second time – after defeating Italy 4–6 in the final.

History

Foundation

The first world cup of beach soccer was held in Brazil, in 1995, organised by the precursors to the modern-day founders of the standardised rules, Beach Soccer Worldwide, held under the title Beach Soccer World Championships. The last edition took place in 2004.

In 2005, FIFA paired up with BSWW to co-organise a new world cup competition, under FIFA's name. They kept the tradition of holding the world cup in Rio de Janeiro and continued to allow 12 teams to participate, following on from the 2004 competition. It was Eric Cantona's France that won the competition, after beating Portugal on penalties in the final. The tournament was deemed a major success and therefore, for the 2006 competition and beyond, FIFA decided to standardise the participants to 16 countries. It was then that the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers were also established, that would take place throughout the year. Again this decision was a successful one and more countries became interested in a now standard FIFA competition.

A scene from the 2007 event in Brazil

Extending the World Cup

By the end of the 2007 World Cup, the tournament had become very popular throughout the world, with the FIFA board taking over the competition, driving more countries to recognize beach soccer as a major sport. Since the World Cup had become a success worldwide, FIFA decided to have a change of venue. It was voted, to extend the sport's popularity, that the 2008 World Cup would take place in Marseille, France, and the 2009 World Cup would take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. These tournaments would be the first to take place outside Brazil. The 2008 competition was once again a major success, despite being held in a different country. This was the first time that Brazil would have to qualify for the tournament, since they weren't the hosts. However Brazil won the qualifiers and the World Cup in July. The 2009 World Cup in Dubai was an even bigger success, as the second competition outside Brazil and the Beach Soccer World Cup's 15th birthday, with Brazil continuing their dominance.[1][2]

Two year basis

Just before the final of the 2009 World Cup, FIFA announced that a new format would see the World Cup now take place every two years, starting from the 2011 World Cup. FIFA justified the decision by stating that they wanted Confederations to have more time to develop the sport, therefore allowing a year in between World Cups for Confederations to organise their own local tournaments. This was a mutual decision between the confederations and FIFA.[3] In March 2010 FIFA confirmed that the 2011 World Cup would take place in Italy and the 2013 World Cup would take place in Tahiti.[4]

FIFA Champions Badge

In 2013, FIFA extended the FIFA Champions Badge to the winners of the competition, where it was first won by Russia.[5]

Qualification

Following the success of the inaugural FIFA tournament in 2005, the number of teams at the finals was increased by FIFA to a record 16 and so the governing body along with BSWW met with individual confederations to set up a standard qualifying process for each world cup by establishing championships for each confederation. The winners of these championships would be crowned the best team in the region, promoting regional competitiveness, and most importantly act as a consistent method of qualification to the World Cup for the best teams of each confederation. This would also help increase the sport's awareness across the globe and make sure all confederations were represented at the finals at every following World Cup, unlike in the past.

Besides Europe, who continued to use the Euro Beach Soccer League as the method of World Cup qualification until 2008, all other confederations hosted their first championships in 2006 in view of the finals later that year.

Attendance

The allocation of World Cup spots and the number of teams that qualify from their regional championship to the World Cup was decided by FIFA in 2006 as follows:

Confederation Continent Qualifying tournament Amount of qualifying nations Participating teams in qualification rounds
2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019
UEFA Europe FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) 5 teams 171 221 24 26 27 24 24 28 20
CONMEBOL South America FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) 3 teams 6 3 7 8 9 9 10 10 10
AFC Asia AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 3 teams 6 6 6 7 11 16 15 14 15
CAF Africa Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations 2 teams 6 8 8 9 9 8 20 15 13
CONCACAF North, Central America and the Caribbean CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship 2 teams 5 4 4 6 8 10 16 16 16
OFC Oceania OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup 1 team 4 4 – 4 3 3 – – 5
Total 16 teams 44 47 49 50 67 70 85 83 79

^ As part of the Euro Beach Soccer League

The host country's confederation loses one qualification spot. I.e. since the 2015 World Cup was held in Portugal, they automatically qualified taking up one of the five European spots. Therefore, in the 2015 UEFA qualifiers, only four teams qualified from the championships to join the hosts making the total of five European nations.

As shown in the table, attendance of nations in qualification tournaments generally continues to rise year on year; the total global number of participants has nearly doubled since 2006.

Despite being the premier tournament in most regions, since the primary objective is to qualify to the World Cup, on rare occasions teams have not participated due to qualifying to the finals automatically as hosts such as Brazil deferring from the 2007 CONMBEBOL Beach Soccer Championship and Tahiti in the 2013 OFC Beach Soccer Championship.

Results
See also: List of world cups in beach soccer
# Year Location Final Third place play-off No. of
teams		 Goals
(match avg.)
Champions Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place
1 2005
Details
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
France		 3–3 (a.e.t.)
(1–0 p.)
Portugal
Brazil		 11–2
Japan		 12 164 (8.2)
2 2006
Details
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Brazil		 4–1
Uruguay
France		 6–4
Portugal		 16 286 (8.9)
3 2007
Details
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Brazil		 8–2
Mexico
Uruguay		 2–2 (a.e.t.)
(1–0 p.)
France		 16 261 (8.2)
4 2008
Details
Plages du Prado, Marseille, France
Brazil		 5–3
Italy
Portugal		 5–4
Spain		 16 258 (8.3)
5 2009
Details
Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Brazil		 10–5
Switzerland
Portugal		 14–7
Uruguay		 16 269 (8.7)
6 2011
Details
Marina di Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy
Russia		 12–8
Brazil
Portugal		 3–2
El Salvador		 16 269 (8.4)
7 2013
Details
Place To'atā, Papeete, Tahiti
Russia		 5–1
Spain
Brazil		 7–7 (a.e.t.)
(1–0 p.)
Tahiti		 16 243 (7.6)
8 2015
Details
Praia da Baía, Espinho, Portugal
Portugal		 5–3
Tahiti
Russia		 5–2
Italy		 16 257 (8.0)
9 2017
Details
Malcolm Park, Nassau, The Bahamas
Brazil		 6–0
Tahiti
Iran		 5–3
Italy		 16 266 (8.3)
10 2019
Details
Olympic Park, Luque, Paraguay
Portugal		 6–4
Italy
Russia		 5–4
Japan		 16 286 (8.9)
11 2021
Details
Luzhniki Complex, Moscow, Russia
 16

Teams reaching the top four

Overall, 13 of the 38 nations who have ever competed have made a top four finish; four have won the title.

Brazil are the most successful nation, with five wins. However, since the start of the 2010s, their hold on the title has become less apparent, with four of their five successes coming in the 2000s. They are followed by Russia and Portugal with two titles each, and France with one title. Brazil and Portugal are the only teams to win a world title before and after FIFA began sanctioning the sport.

Brazil were the only nation to finish in the final four of every tournament until 2015 when they finished in fifth place. Africa is the only region not to have a team reach the semi-finals / finish in the top four.

Team Titles Runners-up Third place Fourth place Total top 4
 Brazil 5 (2006*, 2007*, 2008, 2009, 2017) 1 (2011) 2 (2005*, 2013) — 8
 Portugal 2 (2015*, 2019) 1 (2005) 3 (2008, 2009, 2011) 1 (2006) 7
 Russia 2 (2011, 2013) — 2 (2015, 2019) — 4
 France 1 (2005) — 1 (2006) 1 (2007) 3
 Italy — 2 (2008, 2019) — 2 (2015, 2017) 4
 Tahiti — 2 (2015, 2017) — 1 (2013*) 3
 Uruguay — 1 (2006) 1 (2007) 1 (2009) 3
 Spain — 1 (2013) — 1 (2008) 2
  Switzerland — 1 (2009) — — 1
 Mexico — 1 (2007) — — 1
 Iran — — 1 (2017) — 1
 Japan — — — 2 (2005, 2019) 2
 El Salvador — — — 1 (2011) 1
Key
* = Hosts

Success by confederation
Total times teams played by confederation
AFC CAF CONCACAF CONMEBOL OFC UEFA Total
Teams291920301147156
Top 810652133580
Top 43021132140
Top 2001721020
1st00050510
2nd00122510
3rd10030610
4th20111510

Tournament appearances
Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Since the tournament's establishment in 2005, as of the 2019 World Cup, 38 countries have participated over the 10 competitions. However, only two countries have participated in all World Cups, which are Brazil and Japan. European teams have dominated in appearances by continent, since 10 of the 38 countries have been from Europe, at least double than that of any other.

Eight countries who appeared in the precursor championships have failed to appear in a FIFA World Cup; Peru (5) appeared in the most competitions without yet attending a FIFA controlled World Cup. Meanwhile, Iran and Senegal (7) have appeared in the most FIFA sanctioned tournaments without having ever appeared in the old World Championships before 2005.

All-time table

As of 2019

Key
Appearances Apps / Win in Normal Time W = 3 Points / Win in Extra Time W+ = 2 Points / Win in Penalty shoot-out WP = 1 Point / Loss L = 0 Points
Notes

  • Default position of teams goes by the total points column (Pts)
  • FIFA issued changes to the rules of beach soccer in July 2014 meaning teams now earn 1 point for a penalty shootout win;[6] teams were awarded 2 points for a shootout win prior to July 2014. For the purpose of this table, the calculation of points earned goes by the current rules meaning that penalty shootout wins that occurred both after and before the 2014 rule change have been counted as just 1 point in the "Pts" column.

This table shows the overall statistics of all 10 World Cups that have occurred.

Pos Team Apps Pld W W+ WP L GF GA Dif Pts Av. Pts
1  Brazil 105547035358166+1921442.62
2  Portugal 949293413274167+107971.98
3  Russia 735232010169116+53732.09
4  Spain 72915001411097+13451.55
5  Italy 832132314150126+24421.31
6  Uruguay 628122113112106+6411.46
7  Tahiti 52412129100101–1401.67
8  Argentina 8271301138589–4401.48
9  France 421120369767+30391.86
10  Japan 1036121122132163–31391.08
11  Senegal 725101212126101+25341.36
12   Switzerland 5211011910699+7331.57
13  Iran 7266111895115–20210.81
14  Nigeria 6205121288119–31190.95
15  Mexico 622502155390–37170.77
16  Paraguay 41350085956+3151.15
17  El Salvador 416410114981–32140.88
18  United Arab Emirates 618401135771–14130.72
19  Solomon Islands 5154001155105–50120.8
20  Ukraine 3930063228+491
21  United States 514300114677–3190.64
22  Oman 3920072742–1560.67
23  Canada 1410121226–1441
24  Bahrain 2710152138–1740.57
25  Belarus 1310021013–331
26  Bahamas 131002714–731
27  Ivory Coast 2610052637–1130.5
28  Poland 2610052442–1830.5
29  Netherlands 130012612–610.33
30  Cameroon 2600151235–2310.17
31  Madagascar 130003712–500
32  Australia 12000228–600
33  Venezuela 130003817–900
34  Panama 130003414–1000
35  Thailand 120002313–1000
36  South Africa 120002415–1100
37  Ecuador 130003622–1600
38  Costa Rica 260006831–2300

Awards

The following documents the winners of the awards presented at the conclusion of the tournament. Eight awards are currently presented.

Golden Ball

The adidas Golden Ball award is awarded to the player who plays the most outstanding football during the tournament. It is selected by the media poll.

World Cup Golden Ball Silver Ball Bronze Ball Ref(s)
2005 Brazil Madjer Neném Amarelle [7]
2006 Brazil Madjer Benjamin Bruno [8]
2007 Brazil Buru Madjer Morgan Plata [9]
2008 France Amarelle Benjamin Belchior [10]
2009 United Arab Emirates Dejan Stankovic Madjer Benjamin [11]
2011 Italy Ilya Leonov André Frank Velásquez [12]
2013 Tahiti Bruno Xavier Ozu Moreira Raimana Li Fung Kuee [13]
2015 Portugal Heimanu Taiarui Alan Madjer [14]
2017 Bahamas Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Mauricinho Datinha [15]
2019 Paraguay Ozu Moreira Jordan Santos Bê Martins [16]

Golden Shoe

The adidas Golden Shoe is awarded to the top scorer of the tournament. If more than one player are equal by the same goals, the players will be selected based on the most assists during the tournament.

World Cup Golden Shoe Goals Silver Shoe Goals Bronze Shoe Goals Ref(s)
2005 Brazil Madjer 12 Neném 9 Anthony Mendy 8 [7]
2006 Brazil Madjer 21 Benjamin 12 Bruno 10 [8]
2007 Brazil Buru 10 Morgan Plata 9 Bruno 8 [9]
2008 France Madjer 13 Amarelle 11 Belchior 10 [10]
2009 United Arab Emirates Dejan Stankovic 16 Madjer 11 Buru 10 [11]
2011 Italy André 14 Madjer 12 Frank Velásquez 9 [12]
2013 Tahiti Dmitry Shishin 11 Bruno Xavier 10 Agustín Ruiz 7 [17]
2015 Portugal Pedro Morán 8 Madjer 8 Noël Ott 8 [18]
2017 Bahamas Gabriele Gori 17 Rodrigo 9 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh 9 [15]
2019 Paraguay Gabriele Gori 16 Emmanuele Zurlo 10 Fedor Zemskov 10 [16]

Golden Glove

The Golden Glove Award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

World Cup Golden Glove Ref(s)
2008 France Roberto Valeiro [10]
2009 United Arab Emirates Mão [11]
2011 Italy Andrey Bukhlitskiy [12]
2013 Tahiti Dona [17]
2015 Portugal Jonathan Torohia [18]
2017 Bahamas Peyman Hosseini [15]
2019 Paraguay Elinton Andrade [16]

FIFA Fair Play Award

The FIFA Fair Play Award is given to the team who has the best fair play record during the tournament with the criteria set by FIFA Fair Play Committee.

Tournament FIFA Fair Play Award Ref(s)
2005 Brazil  Japan [7]
2006 Brazil  France [8]
2007 Brazil  Brazil [9]
2008 France  Russia [10]
2009 United Arab Emirates  Japan
 Russia		 [11]
2011 Italy  Nigeria [12]
2013 Tahiti  Russia [17]
2015 Portugal  Brazil [18]
2017 Bahamas  Brazil [15]
2019 Paraguay  Senegal [16]

Top goalscorers

As of 2019

The following table shows the top 20 goalscorers of the FIFA era.

Rank Player Team Goals
1Madjer Portugal88
2Gabriele Gori Italy41
3Bruno Brazil40
4Belchior Portugal39
5Alan Portugal38
André Brazil
7Dejan Stanković  Switzerland37
8Benjamin Brazil35
9Buru Brazil34
10Dmitry Shishin Russia33
11Paolo Palmacci Italy28
12Amarelle Spain27
Ricardo Martinez Uruguay
14Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Iran26
15Pape Jean Koukpaki Senegal23
16Jérémy Basquaise France21
Sidney Brazil
Pedro Morán Paraguay
19Roberto Pasquali Italy20
Noël Ott  Switzerland

Attendance figures
Year Location Stadium capacity Matches Total gate Lowest gate Highest gate Average gate Attendance %
2005 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 10,000 20 110,500 500 10,000 5,525 55%
2006 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 10,000 32 179,800 800 10,000 5,619 56%
2007 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 10,000 32 157,300 1,000 10,000 5,525 49%
2008 Marseille, France 7,000 32 176,500 3,000§ 7,000 5,516 79%
2009 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 5,700 32 97,500 150 5,700 3,047 63%
2011 Ravenna, Italy 5,500 32 119,370 1,000 5,500 3,730 68%
2013 Papeete, Tahiti 4,200 32 109,650 1,100 4,200 3,427 82%
2015 Espinho, Portugal 3,500 32 96,300 1,600 3,500 3,009 86%
2017 Nassau, Bahamas 3,500 32 57,450 400 3,500 1,795 51%
2019 Luque, Paraguay 2,820 32 34,997 216 2,847 1,094 39%
Overall (2005–2019)3081,139,36715010,0003,82962%

Key:

  • § – from the attendance figures available; some are unrecorded
  • – overall percentage that matches were attended, from the total possible maximum attendance figure if all matches were at full capacity: total gate / (stadium capacity x matches played)
  • – two venues were used, the smaller with a capacity of 1,200 for 6 of the 32 matches which the lowest gate figure comes from

References
  1. FIFA.com (24 November 2009). "Brazil the undisputed kings of sand". Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  2. "DUBAI 2009: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup". Bleacher Report. 25 November 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  3. "Valcke: Beach soccer on the move". FIFA.com. 21 November 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  4. "FIFA Executive Committee approves special funding for Chile and Haiti". FIFA.com. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  5. "FIFA World Champions Badge honours Real Madrid's impeccable year". FIFA. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2019. The latest tournament to be introduced to this exclusive award was the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013, where reigning champions Russia were awarded the FIFA World Champions Badge.
  6. "Amendments to the Beach Soccer Laws of the Game - 2014" (PDF). FIFA.com. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  7. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2005". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  8. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  9. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2007". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  10. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseilles 2008". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  11. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  12. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Italy 2011". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  13. FIFA.com (29 September 2013). "And the winners are…". Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  14. FIFA.com (19 July 2015). "Taiarui and Moran strike gold". Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  15. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 Awards". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  16. "Ozu, Gori and Andrade take home individual honours". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  17. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  18. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
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