List of world cups in beach soccer

In competitive beach soccer, the world cup is the sport's paramount competition.[1][2] It is contested by senior men's national teams.

World cups in beach soccer
Beach Soccer World Championships (1995–2004) FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2005–present)
Founded
1995
Editions held
20
Region
International (FIFA)
Number of teams
16 (since 2006)
Current champions
Portugal (3rd title; 2019)
Most successful team
Brazil (14 titles)

World cups in beach soccer
Beach Soccer World Championships
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021

To date, two iterations of a world cup in beach soccer have existed. The first was the Beach Soccer World Championships which ran annually from 1995 to 2004.[3] FIFA then became the governing body of the sport.[2] As a result, the World Championships were abolished and replaced by the second and current iteration, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which began in 2005 and was also held annually; since 2009, it has been a biennial event.[4] Whilst being two independently governed competitions, both have occurred to determine the same outcome: the world champions in beach soccer.[5]

Four nations have been crowned world champions of the 20 editions to date.[4] By far the most successful team is Brazil who have historically dominated the title, winning 14. The current champions are Portugal, who won the 2019 competition. These are the only two nations to win in both eras of the sport's world cup. The other victors are France and Russia.

The following lists a summary of the results of each world cup and associated statistics; the latter combines the data of all the editions of both iterations.

List of world cups

The numbers in parentheses indicate the total number of world titles won by that team as of that victory.

Beach Soccer World Championships (1995–2004)

#	Year	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place
1	1995[6]	Brazil (1)	United States	England	Italy
2	1996[7]	Brazil (2)	Uruguay	Italy	United States
3	1997[8]	Brazil (3)	Uruguay	United States	Argentina
4	1998[9]	Brazil (4)	France	Uruguay	Peru
5	1999[10]	Brazil (5)	Portugal	Uruguay	Peru
6	2000[11]	Brazil (6)	Peru	Spain	Japan
7	2001[12]	Portugal (1)	France	Argentina	Brazil
8	2002[13]	Brazil (7)	Portugal	Uruguay	Thailand
9	2003[14]	Brazil (8)	Spain	Portugal	France
10	2004[15]	Brazil (9)	Spain	Portugal	Italy

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2005–present)

#	Year	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place
11	2005[16]	France (1)	Portugal	Brazil	Japan
12	2006[17]	Brazil (10)	Uruguay	France	Portugal
13	2007[18]	Brazil (11)	Mexico	Uruguay	France
14	2008[19]	Brazil (12)	Italy	Portugal	Spain
15	2009[20]	Brazil (13)	Switzerland	Portugal	Uruguay
16	2011[21]	Russia (1)	Brazil	Portugal	El Salvador
17	2013[22]	Russia (2)	Spain	Brazil	Tahiti
18	2015[23]	Portugal (2)	Tahiti	Russia	Italy
19	2017[24]	Brazil (14)	Tahiti	Iran	Italy
20	2019[25]	Portugal (3)	Italy	Russia	Japan
21	2021

Statistics

Successful nations

The following lists the teams that have finished in the top four.

Overall, 18 nations have made at least one top four finish. Of those 18 nations, only seven have made a top four finish in both iterations of the competition. Brazil remained the only nation to finish in the final four of every championship until 2015 when they finished in fifth place.

Team	Titles	Years	Runners-up	Years	3rd place	Years	4th place	Years	Total
Brazil	14	1995*, 1996*, 1997*, 1998*, 1999*, 2000*, 2002*, 2003*, 2004*, 2006*, 2007*, 2008, 2009, 2017	1	2011	2	2005*, 2013	1	2001*	18
Portugal	3	2001, 2015*, 2019	3	1999, 2002, 2005	5	2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011	1	2006	12
Russia	2	2011, 2013	0		2	2015, 2019	0		4
France	1	2005	2	1998, 2001	1	2006	2	2003, 2007	6
Uruguay	0		3	1996, 1997, 2006	4	1998, 1999, 2002, 2007	1	2009	8
Spain	0		3	2003, 2004, 2013	1	2000	1	2008	5
Italy	0		2	2008, 2019	1	1996	4	1995, 2004, 2015, 2017	7
Tahiti	0		2	2015, 2017	0		1	2013	3
United States	0		1	1995	1	1997	1	1996	3
Peru	0		1	2000	0		2	1998, 1999	3
Switzerland	0		1	2009	0		0		1
Mexico	0		1	2007	0		0		1
Argentina	0		0		1	2001	1	1997	2
Iran	0		0		1	2017	0		1
England	0		0		1	1995	0		1
Japan	0		0		0		3	2000, 2005, 2019	3
El Salvador	0		0		0		1	2011	1
Thailand	0		0		0		1	2002	1

* = Hosts

Success by region

Region	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Total
South America (CONMEBOL)	14	5	7	5	31
Europe (UEFA)	6	11	11	8	36
North America (CONCACAF)	0	2	1	2	5
Oceania (OFC)	0	2	0	1	3
Asia (AFC)	0	0	1	4	5
Africa (CAF)	0	0	0	0	0

Appearances and performance

The following lists the teams who have appeared in at least one tournament, in order from the most appearances down to the least, and that nation's best performance.

As of the 2019 edition, 46 countries have participated over the 20 tournaments. However, only one country has participated in all the events which is Brazil. European teams have dominated in appearances by continent, since 15 of the 46 countries have been from Europe, at least double than that of any other.

Only eight countries who appeared in an edition of the World Championships have failed to reappear in a FIFA World Cup. Peru (5) have appeared in the most events without any one of those being under FIFA's control. Iran and Senegal (7) have appeared in the most FIFA tournaments without having ever once appeared in the World Championships.

Apps. Country First Last Best result 20  Brazil 1995 2019 Champions 18  Italy 1995 2019 Runners-up 17  Portugal 1997 2019 Champions 16  Argentina 1995 2015 Third place  Uruguay 1995 2019 Runners-up 14  Spain 1998 2015 Runners-up  Japan 1997 2019 Fourth place  United States 1995 2019 Runners-up 12  France 1997 2008 Champions 8  Russia 1996 2019 Champions 7  Iran 2006 2017 Third place  Senegal 2007 2019 QF 6  Mexico 2007 2019 Runners-up  UAE 2007 2019 Round 1  Nigeria 2006 2019 QF   Switzerland 2004 2019 Runners-up 5  Peru 1998 2004 Runners-up  Solomon Isl. 2006 2013 Round 1  Tahiti 2011 2019 Runners-up 4  Germany 1995 2004 Round 1  El Salvador 2008 2013 Fourth place  Paraguay 2013 2019 QF 3  Canada 1996 2006 QF  Venezuela 2000 2011 QF  Ukraine 2005 2013 QF  Oman 2011 2019 Round 1

Apps. Country First Last Best result 2  Thailand 2002 2005 Fourth place  South Africa 1999 2005 Round 1  Cameroon 2006 2008 Round 1  Bahrain 2006 2009 QF  Ivory Coast 2009 2013 Round 1  Netherlands 1995 2013 Round 1  Costa Rica 2009 2015 Round 1  Poland 2006 2017 Round 1 1  England 1995 Third place  Denmark 1996 Round 1  Chile 1998 Round 1  Malaysia 1999 Round 1  Turkey 2001 Round 1  Belgium 2004 Round 1  Australia 2005 Round 1  Madagascar 2015 Round 1  Bahamas 2017 Round 1  Ecuador 2017 Round 1  Panama 2017 Round 1  Belarus 2019 Round 1 Key: Italics – edition of the World Championships Apps. – Appearances QF – Quarter-finals

Map of the nations that have appeared in any world cup in beach soccer by appearance. Map of the best results by nation in world cups of beach soccer.   Champions   Runners-up   Semi-finals   Quarter-finals   Round 1

All-time table

As of 2019

The following table shows the overall statistics of all 20 world cups, combining the results of both the Beach Soccer World Championships era and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup era.

Notes:

• 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
• 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;[26] 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.

Pos	Team	Apps	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts	Av. Pts
1	Brazil	20	105	95	0	3	7	780	289	+491	288	2.74
2	Portugal	17	84	52	4	4	24	451	286	+165	168	2
3	Uruguay	16	67	28	3	4	32	267	261	+6	94	1.4
4	Spain	14	56	29	1	0	26	219	205	+14	89	1.59
5	Italy	18	68	25	2	4	37	278	309	–31	79	1.16
6	Russia	8	38	24	2	0	12	176	126	+50	76	2
7	France	12	50	23	0	4	23	212	221	–9	73	1.46
8	Argentina	16	57	23	0	1	33	167	211	–44	70	1.23
9	United States	14	47	18	0	0	29	158	215	–57	54	1.15
10	Japan	14	50	15	1	2	32	172	241	–69	49	0.98
11	Tahiti	5	24	12	1	2	9	100	101	–1	40	1.67
12	Switzerland	6	24	11	1	1	11	115	116	–1	36	1.5
13	Senegal	7	25	10	1	2	12	126	101	+25	34	1.36
14	Peru	5	21	11	0	0	9	81	78	+3	33	1.57
15	Iran	7	26	6	1	1	18	95	115	–20	21	0.81
16	Nigeria	6	20	5	1	2	12	88	119	–31	19	0.95
17	Mexico	6	22	5	0	2	15	53	90	–37	17	0.77
18	Paraguay	4	13	5	0	0	8	59	56	+3	15	1.15
19	El Salvador	4	16	4	1	0	11	49	81	–32	14	0.88
20	United Arab Emirates	6	18	4	0	1	13	57	71	–14	13	0.72
21	Solomon Islands	5	15	4	0	0	11	55	105	–50	12	0.8
22	Canada	3	10	3	0	1	6	34	63	–29	10	1
23	Ukraine	3	9	3	0	0	6	32	28	+4	9	1
24	England	1	5	2	0	0	3	20	31	–11	6	1.2
25	Oman	3	9	2	0	0	7	27	42	–15	6	0.67
26	Bahrain	2	7	1	0	1	5	21	38	–17	4	0.57
27	Thailand	2	7	1	0	1	5	16	34	–18	4	0.57
28	Belarus	1	3	1	0	0	2	10	13	–3	3	1
29	Denmark	1	3	1	0	0	2	10	16	–6	3	1
30	Bahamas	1	3	1	0	0	2	7	14	–7	3	1
31	Chile	1	4	1	0	0	3	14	22	–8	3	0.75
32	Ivory Coast	2	6	1	0	0	5	26	37	–11	3	0.5
33	Venezuela	3	8	1	0	0	7	22	33	–11	3	0.38
34	Poland	2	6	1	0	0	5	24	42	–18	3	0.5
35	Germany	4	9	1	0	0	8	22	56	–34	3	0.33
36	Cameroon	2	6	0	0	1	5	12	35	–23	1	0.17
37	Netherlands	2	6	0	0	1	5	13	42	–29	1	0.17
38	Turkey	1	2	0	0	0	2	1	5	–4	0	0
39	Madagascar	1	3	0	0	0	3	7	12	–5	0	0
40	Australia	1	2	0	0	0	2	2	8	–6	0	0
41	Malaysia	1	2	0	0	0	2	4	13	–9	0	0
42	Panama	1	3	0	0	0	3	4	14	–10	0	0
43	Belgium	1	2	0	0	0	2	5	18	–13	0	0
44	Ecuador	1	3	0	0	0	3	6	22	–16	0	0
45	Costa Rica	2	6	0	0	0	6	8	31	–23	0	0
46	South Africa	2	4	0	0	0	4	6	29	–23	0	0

Top goalscorers

As of 2019

From the data available,^[Note] the table below lists the all-time top 30 goalscorers, totalling goals scored by players across both world cup iterations.

Rank	Player	Team		Goals
				WC era	FIFA era	Total
1	Madjer	Portugal		52	88	140
2	Alan	Portugal		37	38	75
3	Júnior Negão	Brazil		54	18	72
4	Júnior	Brazil		71	0	71
5	Benjamin	Brazil		30	35	65
6	Neném	Brazil		55	9	64
7	Amarelle	Spain		32	27	59
8	Jorginho	Brazil		43	6	49
9	Belchior	Portugal		6	39	45
10	Bruno	Brazil		2	40	42
	Buru	Brazil		8	34
12	Gabriele Gori	Italy		0	41	41
13	André	Brazil		1	38	39
14	Dejan Stanković	Switzerland		0	37	37
15	Venancio Ramos	Uruguay		34	0	34
16	Dmitry Shishin	Russia		0	33	33
17	Alessandro Altobelli	Italy		30	0	30
	Nico	Spain		12	18
19	Juninho	Brazil		25	4	29
20	Paolo Palmacci	Italy		0	28	28
	Cláudio Adão	Brazil		28	0
22	Ricardo Martinez	Uruguay		0	27	27
	Hernâni	Portugal		22	5
24	Mohammad Ahmadzadeh	Iran		0	26	26
25	Edinho	Brazil		25	0	25
26	Pape Jean Koukpaki	Senegal		0	23	23
	Zico	Brazil		23	0
28	Magal	Brazil		22	0	22
29	Jérémy Basquaise	France		0	21	21
	Roberto Pasquali	Italy		1	20
	Sidney	Brazil		0	21
	Pedro Morán	Paraguay		0	21

Sources:

1995–2001 (combined scorers), 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019

Notes:^

Note that the source for 1995–2002 is a list of the players with the most goals from all those tournaments combined; players must have scored at least 10 goals overall to make the list; players with less goals are not listed. This means for players who subsequently scored enough goals to make the above all-time table, if they played between 1995–2002 and scored less than 10 goals, they would not have made the source lists and therefore any goals they did score during that time are a) unknown and b) missing from the above table (if they did score any). Note that there are some discrepancies between FIFA's match reports and FIFA's top scorers lists for the same tournament. During the early years of beach soccer, goals scored in a penalty shootout were often combined with goals scored during regulation time when the match score was documented – note that it is also possible such goals may have been counted in a player's goal tally in the sources.

References

1. Five European places up for grabs at FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifying tournament in Moscow. Inside the Games. 18 July 2019.
2. "FIFA launches first ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup". fifa.com. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
3. DUBAI 2009: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Bleacher Report. 25 November 2009.
4. Everything You Need to Know About FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Richard Isava. 31 January 2020.
5. FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017 Statistical Kit – post event edition. FIFA. 14 August 2017.
6. "Beach Soccer World Cup 1995". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
7. "Beach Soccer World Cup 1996". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
8. "Beach Soccer World Cup 1997". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
9. "Beach Soccer World Cup 1998". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
10. "Beach Soccer World Cup 1999". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
11. "Beach Soccer World Cup 2000". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
12. "Beach Soccer World Cup 2001". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
13. "Beach Soccer World Cup 2002". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
14. "Beach Soccer World Cup 2003". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
15. "Beach Soccer World Cup 2004". Rsssf.com. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
16. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2005". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
17. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
18. "FIFA.com". FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2007. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
19. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseilles 2008". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
20. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
21. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Italy 2011". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
22. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
23. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
24. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
25. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
26. "Amendments to the Beach Soccer Laws of the Game - 2014" (PDF). FIFA.com. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

External links

• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, at FIFA.com
• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, at Beach Soccer Worldwide
• Beach Soccer World Cup - Overview, at RSSSF