FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Organising body	BSWW FIFA
Founded	2005;19 years ago (2005)
Region	International
Number of teams	16 (finals)
Current champions	Brazil (6th title)
Most successful team(s)	Brazil (6 titles)
Website	Official website
2025 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

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 2024 2025

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. 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. FIFA 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 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 first edition held outside Brazil was in 2008 in Marseille, France. The most recent edition in 2024 was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and crowned Brazil as champions for the sixth time – after defeating Italy 6–4 in the final.

History

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.

A scene from the 2007 event in Brazil

By the end of the 2007 World Cup, the tournament had become more popular, with the FIFA board taking over the competition, driving more countries to recognize beach soccer as a "major" sport. 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 the first time that Brazil would have to qualify for the tournament since they weren't the hosts. The 2009 World Cup is the Beach Soccer World Cup's 15th birthday, with Brazil continuing their dominance. ^{[1] [2]}

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]

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

Qualification

Following 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	2021
UEFA	Europe	FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA)	5 teams		17 1	22 1	24	26	27	24	24	28	20	27
CONMEBOL	South America	Copa América de Beach Soccer	3 teams		6	3	7	8	9	9	10	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	14
CONCACAF	North, Central America and the Caribbean	CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship	2 teams		5	4	4	6	8	10	16	16	16	12
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	63

^ 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 some 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		RFU [RFU]	5–2	Japan		Switzerland	9–7	Senegal		16	302 (9.4)
12	2024 Details	Design District, Dubai, United Arab Emirates		Brazil	6–4	Italy		Iran	6–1	Belarus		16	223 (7.0)
13	2025 Details	Victoria, Seychelles										16

Teams reaching the top four

Overall, 15 of the 42 nations who have ever competed have made a top four finish; four have won the title.

Brazil are the most successful nation, with six wins. Since the start of the 2010s, their hold on the title has become less apparent, with four of their six successes coming in the 2000s. They are followed by Russia with three titles, Portugal with two titles 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.

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place		Total top 4
Brazil	6 (2006*, 2007*, 2008, 2009, 2017, 2024)	1 (2011)	2 (2005*, 2013)	–		9
Russia [RFU]	3 (2011, 2013, 2021*)	–	2 (2015, 2019)	–		5
Portugal	2 (2015*, 2019)	1 (2005)	3 (2008, 2009, 2011)	1 (2006)		7
France	1 (2005)	–	1 (2006)	1 (2007)		3
Italy	–	3 (2008, 2019, 2024)	–	2 (2015, 2017)		5
Tahiti	–	2 (2015, 2017)	–	1 (2013*)		3
Uruguay	–	1 (2006)	1 (2007)	1 (2009)		3
Switzerland	–	1 (2009)	1 (2021)	–		2
Japan	–	1 (2021)	–	2 (2005, 2019)		3
Spain	–	1 (2013)	–	1 (2008)		2
Mexico	–	1 (2007)	–	–		1
Iran	–	–	2 (2017, 2024)	–		2
El Salvador	–	–	–	1 (2011)		1
Senegal	–	–	–	1 (2021)		1
Belarus	–	–	–	1 (2024)		1

Key

* = Hosts

By confederation

Total times teams played by confederation

	AFC	CAF	CONCACAF	CONMEBOL	OFC	UEFA	Total
Teams	36	23	24	36	13	56	188
Top 8	14	7	5	24	5	41	96
Top 4	5	1	2	12	3	25	48
Top 2	1	0	1	8	2	12	24
1st	0	0	0	6	0	6	12
2nd	1	0	1	2	2	6	12
3rd	2	0	0	3	0	7	12
4th	2	1	1	1	1	6	12

Tournament appearances

Main article: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup records and statistics

Since the tournament's establishment in 2005, as of the 2021 World Cup, 39 countries have participated over the 11 competitions. Two countries have participated in all World Cups, which are Brazil and Japan. European teams have dominated in unique qualifiers by continent, since 10 of the 39 countries have been from Europe, double 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, Senegal (9) have appeared in the most FIFA sanctioned tournaments without having ever appeared in the old World Championships before 2005.

Apps Team First Last Best result 12   Brazil 2005 2024 Champions   Japan 2005 2024 Runners-up 11   Portugal 2005 2024 Champions 9   Spain 2005 2024 Runners-up   Argentina 2005 2024 Quarter-finals   Italy 2006 2024 Runners-up   Senegal 2007 2024 Fourth place 8   Russia [RFU] 2007 2021 Champions   Iran 2006 2024 Third place   United Arab Emirates 2007 2024 Quarter-finals 7   Uruguay 2005 2021 Runners-up   United States 2005 2024 Round 1   Mexico 2007 2024 Runners-up   Tahiti 2011 2024 Runners-up 6   Nigeria 2006 2019 Quarter-finals    Switzerland 2009 2021 Runners-up 5   Solomon Islands 2006 2013 Round 1   El Salvador 2008 2021 Fourth place   Paraguay 2013 2021 Quarter-finals   Oman 2011 2024 Round 1 4   France 2005 2008 Champions

Apps Team First Last Best result 3   Ukraine 2005 2013 Quarter-finals   Belarus 2019 2024 Fourth place 2   Poland 2006 2017 Round 1   Bahrain 2006 2009 Quarter-finals   Cameroon 2006 2008 Round 1   Costa Rica 2009 2015 Round 1   Ivory Coast 2009 2013 Round 1 1   Australia 2005 Round 1   South Africa 2005 Round 1   Thailand 2005 Round 1   Canada 2006 Quarter-finals   Venezuela 2011 Round 1   Netherlands 2013 Round 1   Madagascar 2015 Round 1   Bahamas 2017 Round 1   Ecuador 2017 Round 1   Panama 2017 Round 1   Mozambique 2021 Round 1   Colombia 2024 Round 1   Egypt 2024 Round 1   Seychelles 2025 TBD Key: Apps – Appearances

Attendance

In all tournaments, one venue was used to host all matches, with the exception of 2009, when two venues were used. ^{[at 1]}

Year	Location	Stadium capacity	Matches	Total gate	Lowest gate	Highest gate	Average gate	Attendance % [at 2]
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 / 1,200 [at 1]	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	2,847	32	34,997	216	2,847	1,094	38%
2021	Moscow, Russia	2,500 [at 3]	32	53,149	472	2,500	1,661	66%
2024	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	3,458	32	72,893	711	3,458	2,278	66%
Overall (2005–2024)			372	1,265,409	150	10,000	3,402	62%

1. Two venues were used; the smaller was used for six matches and had a capacity of 1,200, from which the lowest gate figure came. ^[6]
2. This is the overall attendance percentage for the tournament, from the total possible maximum attendance figure if all matches were at full capacity: total gate / (stadium capacity x matches played).
3. The actual capacity figure was approximately 4,500. ^[7] However, it was restricted to a maximum of 2,500 in order to accommodate social distancing measures due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. ^[8]

See also

• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup records and statistics

Notes

1. ^
   At the 2021 edition, in accordance with a ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the team from Russia was not permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem; it participated in the World Cup as "the team of the Russian Football Union (RFU)", and used the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee. ^[9] For the purpose of continuity in this article, the results of the RFU team in 2021 are considered as de facto results of the Russian national team.

References

1. FIFA.com (24 November 2009). "Brazil the undisputed kings of sand" . Retrieved 30 September 2020.^{[ dead link ]}
2. "DUBAI 2009: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup". Bleacher Report. 25 November 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
3. "Valcke: Beach soccer on the move". FIFA.com. 21 November 2009. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
4. "FIFA Executive Committee approves special funding for Chile and Haiti". FIFA.com. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2020.^{[ dead link ]}
5. "FIFA World Champions Badge honours Real Madrid's impeccable year". FIFA . 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. 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. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009 Technical Report and Statistics" (PDF). FIFA. p. 56. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
7. "Samoura: We Want The World Cup To Be A Safe Place For Everyone". FIFA. 19 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
8. "Матчи ЧМ по пляжному футболу можно посетить без теста на COVID-19 и QR-кода о вакцинации" [Beach soccer World Cup matches can be attended without COVID-19 test and vaccination QR code]. Sports.ru (in Russian). 9 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
9. "ВАДА разрешило провести в Москве ЧМ по пляжному футболу" [WADA allowed to host the Beach Soccer World Cup in Moscow]. Interfax (in Russian). 21 May 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.

External links

• History, FIFA.com (in English)
• The Beach Soccer Championships, BeachsoccerUSA.org (in English)
• RSSSF.com Beach Soccer Championships, RSSSF.com (in English)