FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
| Founded |
1995 (rebranded in 2005) |
|---|---|
| Region | International (FIFA) |
| Number of teams |
16 (final tournament) 85 (2015 qualification) |
| Current champions |
 Portugal(1st title, 2 overall) |
| Most successful team(s) |
 Brazil(4 titles, 13 overall) |
| Website | Beach Soccer World Cup |
 2017 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.
The tournament was established in 1995 as the Beach Soccer World Championship, taking 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, joined hands with BSWW over the organization of the competition in 2005, 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 10 days and involves 16 teams competing initially 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 was held in Espinho, Portugal, and crowned Portugal as champions for the second time – first under the patronage of FIFA – after defeating Tahiti 5–3 in the final.
History
Foundation
The first Beach Soccer World Cup 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 Championship. Eight teams were selected to take part, without going through a qualification process. However Brazil, the hosts, dominated and easily won the cup without losing a game. The tournament was successful and BSWW announced that the competition would take place every year.
Growth worldwide
By 1997, more teams had already stated their interest in participating and therefore BSWW extended their selection to 10 teams for 1998. Brazil continued to dominate, despite this change. Immediately, BSWW extended to 12 teams for 1999, spreading their selection across five continents, introducing more new teams to the tournament. However, with all these changes it still took until the 2001 World Cup for Brazil to lose the title after winning the competition six years on the run since the establishment. It was Portugal who won the tournament, with Brazil finishing in a disappointing fourth place.
With this change of champions, more countries thought there was a chance for themselves to win the tournament and this sparked more interest worldwide. Not surprisingly, Brazil reclaimed their title in 2002, when BSWW reduced the number of contestants back to eight. The last Beach Soccer World Championship to be organised purely by BSWW was in 2004 when twelve teams played, seven from Europe.
FIFA Era
In 2005, FIFA paired up with BSWW to co-organise the World Cup, although FIFA seem to have the most control. 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 FIFA took advantage. 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.
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, 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, Brazil continued their dominance.
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 Confederations and FIFA.[1] 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.[2]
Qualification
Pre-2006
From 1995 until 2005 there was no standard qualification system for nations to go through to earn a place at the World Cup finals. The process in which teams gained entry into the finals was inconsistent from one year to the next throughout the confederations, often down to a simple invite to participate in the finals from BSWW, or potentially qualification by reaching the latter stages in a premier regional tournament with no prior ties with the World Cup, or perhaps by performing well in the previous World Cup.
During this period, nations from Africa, Asia and sometimes North America were the usual recipients of invitations, due to a lack of regional tournaments for BSWW to determine who was best in said region and worthy to play in the finals. Typically, European nations qualified by doing well in the Euro Beach Soccer League and South American nations in the Americas' League, sometimes jointly with North American nations who also qualified along with them in such circumstances. It was still common for other 'wild-card' European and South American nations to receive invites despite not performing well continentally. However, during the early years of the championships, invitation was the common form of eligibility for all nations.
2006 onwards
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 regional championships for each continent. 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 all corners of 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 hence how many teams 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 | |||||
| UEFA | Europe | FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) | 5 teams | 17[A] | 22[A] | 24 | 26 | 27 | 24 | 24 | |
| CONMEBOL | South America | CONMEBOL Beach Soccer Championship | 3 teams | 6 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | |
| AFC | Asia | AFC Beach Soccer Championship | 3 teams | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 15 | |
| CAF | Africa | CAF Beach Soccer Championship | 2 teams | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 20 | |
| CONCACAF | North, Central America and the Caribbean | CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship | 2 teams | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 16 | |
| OFC | Oceania | OFC Beach Soccer Championship | 1 team | 4 | 4 | - | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | |
| Total | 16 teams | 44 | 47 | 49 | 50 | 67 | 70 | 85 | |||
^ As part of the Euro Beach Soccer League
Qualification continues to be the same since 2006. Note that the host country's continent 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 UEFA Beach Soccer Word Cup qualifiers, only four teams qualified from the championships to join the hosts making the total of five European squads.
As shown in the table, attendance of nations at the qualification championships generally continues to rise year on year with five confederations having over 10 participants in qualifying for the first time in 2015, with the total global number of participants having nearly doubled since 2006. European interest has currently leveled-out whilst Oceania is the only continent struggling to attract more nations to compete.
Despite being the premier tournament in most regions, since the primary objective is to qualify to the World Cup, on a rare occasion teams have not bothered to participate 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
Beach Soccer World Championships
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups
- Key
- Bold Years = FIFA tournaments
- * = Hosts
Successful national teams
Brazil are by far the most successful nation, with 13 titles. However their hold on the title has become less apparent since the tournament came under the control of FIFA and moved outside of Rio. They are followed by Russia (2011 and 2013) and Portugal (2001 and 2015) with two wins, and France with one title (2005). France won the first FIFA-sanctioned tournament in 2005. Brazil and Portugal are the only teams to win the world championship before and after FIFA started sanctioning the sport.
Overall 17 of the 42 nations who have ever competed have made a top four finish. Brazil remained the only nation to finish in the final four every championship until 2015 when they finished in fifth place. Of those 17 nations, only 7 have made a top four finish before and after FIFA started sanctioning the World Cup.
| Nation | Winners | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil |
13 (1995*, 1996*, 1997*, 1998*, 1999*, 2000*, 2002*, 2003*, 2004*, 2006*, 2007*, 2008, 2009) | 1 (2011) | 2 (2005*, 2013) | 1 (2001*) |
| Portugal |
2 (2001, 2015*) | 3 (1999, 2002, 2005) | 5 (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011) | 1 (2006) |
 Russia |
2 (2011, 2013) | — | 1 (2015) | — |
 France |
1 (2005) | 2 (1998, 2001) | 1 (2006) | 2 (2003, 2007) |
 Uruguay |
— | 3 (1996, 1997, 2006) | 4 (1998, 1999, 2002, 2007) | 1 (2009) |
 Spain |
— | 3 (2003, 2004, 2013) | 1 (2000) | 1 (2008) |
 Italy |
— | 1 (2008) | 1 (1996) | 3 (1995, 2004, 2015) |
 United States |
— | 1 (1995) | 1 (1997) | 1 (1996) |
 Peru |
— | 1 (2000) | — | 2 (1998, 1999) |
 Tahiti |
— | 1 (2015) | — | 1 (2013*) |
 Switzerland |
— | 1 (2009) | — | — |
 Mexico |
— | 1 (2007) | — | — |
 Argentina |
— | — | 1 (2001) | 1 (1997) |
 England |
— | — | 1 (1995) | — |
 Japan |
— | — | — | 2 (2000, 2005) |
 El Salvador |
— | — | — | 1 (2011) |
 Thailand |
— | — | — | 1 (2002) |
- Key
- Bold Years = FIFA tournaments
- * = Hosts
Tournament appearances as of 2015
Since the tournament's establishment in 1995, as of the 2015 World Cup, 42 different countries have participated over the 18 competitions. However, only one country has participated in all World Cups, which is Brazil. European teams have dominated in appearances by continent, since 14 of the 42 different countries have been from Europe, at least double than that of any other. Since qualification has been standardized, fewer new countries are expected to make an appearance.
Only 8 of the 42 countries have failed to appear in a FIFA controlled World Cup. Peru (5) have appeared in the most competitions without any one of those being under FIFA's control. Meanwhile, Iran (6) have appeared in the most FIFA sanctioned tournaments without having ever appeared in the old World Championships before 2005.
| Appearances | Country | Last Appearance | Appearances | Country | Last Appearance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Brazil | 2015 | 2 |  Bahrain South Africa Thailand Cameroon Ivory Coast Netherlands Costa Rica Oman Paraguay | 2009 2005 2005 2008 2013 2013 2015 2015 2015 | |
| 15 | Uruguay Italy Argentina Portugal | 2009 2015 2015 2015 | ||||
| 14 | Spain | 2015 | ||||
| 13 | United States | 2013 | ||||
| 12 | France Japan | 2008 2015 | ||||
| 7 | Russia | 2015 | ||||
| 6 |  Iran | 2015 | 1 |  Australia.svg.png){kind=small} Belgium Chile Denmark England Malaysia Poland Turkey Madagascar | 2005 2004 1998 1996 1995 1999 2006 2001 2015 | |
| 5 | Peru El Salvador Solomon Islands Senegal | 2004 2013 2013 2015 | ||||
| 4 |  Germany United Arab Emirates Nigeria Mexico Switzerland | 2004 2013 2011 2015 2015 | ||||
| 3 |  Canada Venezuela Ukraine Tahiti | 2006 2011 2013 2015 |
- Key
- Italics indicates pre-2005, non-FIFA World Championships
General Statistics FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2005-2015
| Team | Part | Pld | W | WE | WP | L | GF | GA | Dif | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil |
8 | 45 | 38 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 288 | 136 | +152 | 117 |
| Portugal |
7 | 39 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 226 | 137 | +89 | 79 |
| Russia |
6 | 29 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 139 | 87 | +52 | 61 |
| Spain |
7 | 29 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 110 | 97 | +13 | 45 |
| Argentina |
8 | 27 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 85 | 89 | -4 | 40 |
| France |
4 | 21 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 97 | 67 | +30 | 39 |
| Uruguay |
5 | 24 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 101 | 94 | +7 | 35 |
| Tahiti |
3 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 64 | 62 | +2 | 24 |
| Japan |
8 | 27 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 93 | 126 | -33 | 24 |
| Senegal |
5 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 81 | 74 | +7 | 22 |
| Switzerland |
3 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 63 | 60 | +3 | 21 |
| Italy |
6 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 75 | 74 | +1 | 19 |
| Nigeria |
4 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 65 | 71 | -6 | 17 |
| Mexico |
4 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 43 | 61 | -18 | 17 |
| El Salvador |
4 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 49 | 81 | -32 | 14 |
| Iran |
6 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 74 | 97 | -23 | 12 |
| Solomon Islands |
5 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 55 | 105 | -50 | 12 |
| Ukraine |
3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 32 | 28 | +4 | 9 |
| United States |
4 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 36 | 60 | -24 | 9 |
| Paraguay |
2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 29 | -1 | 6 |
| United Arab Emirates |
4 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 45 | 56 | -11 | 6 |
| Canada |
1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 26 | -14 | 4 |
| Bahrain |
2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 21 | 38 | -17 | 4 |
| Poland |
1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 18 | -6 | 3 |
| Oman |
2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 26 | -8 | 3 |
| Ivory Coast |
2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 26 | 37 | -11 | 3 |
| Netherlands |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 1 |
| Cameroon |
2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 35 | -23 | 1 |
| Madagascar |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 0 |
| Australia |
1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 0 |
| Venezuela |
1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 17 | -9 | 0 |
| Thailand |
1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 13 | -10 | 0 |
| South Africa |
1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 15 | -11 | 0 |
| Costa Rica |
2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 31 | -23 | 0 |
Note: Win in Common Time W = 3 Points / Win in Extra Time WE = 2 Points / Win in Penalty shoot-out WP = 1 Point / Lose L = 0 Points
Awards
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 |
[3] |
| 2006 Brazil | Madjer |
Benjamin |
Bruno |
[4] |
| 2007 Brazil | Buru |
Madjer |
Morgan Plata |
[5] |
| 2008 France | Amarelle |
Benjamin |
Belchior |
[6] |
| 2009 United Arab Emirates | Dejan Stankovic |
Madjer |
Benjamin |
[7] |
| 2011 Italy | Ilya Leonov |
André |
Frank Velasquez |
[8] |
| 2013 Tahiti | Bruno Xavier |
Ozu Moreira |
Raimana Li Fung Kuee |
[9] |
| 2015 Portugal | Heimanu Philippe Taiarui |
Alan |
Madjer |
[10] |
Golden Shoe
The adidas Golden Shoe is awarded to the topscorer of the tournament. If more than one players are equal by same goals, the players will be selected based by 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 | Mendy |
8 | [3] |
| 2006 Brazil | Madjer |
21 | Benjamin |
12 | Bruno |
10 | [4] |
| 2007 Brazil | Buru |
10 | Morgan Plata |
9 | Bruno |
8 | [5] |
| 2008 France | Madjer |
13 | Amarelle |
11 | Belchior |
10 | [6] |
| 2009 United Arab Emirates | Dejan Stankovic |
16 | Madjer |
11 | Buru |
10 | [7] |
| 2011 Italy | André |
14 | Madjer |
12 | Frank Velásquez |
9 | [8] |
| 2013 Tahiti | Dmitrii Shishin |
11 | Bruno Xavier |
10 | Agustín Ruiz |
7 | [9] |
| 2015 Portugal | Pedro Moran |
8 | Madjer |
8 | Noel Ott |
8 | [10] |
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 |
[6] |
| 2009 United Arab Emirates | Mão |
[7] |
| 2011 Italy | Andrey Bukhlitskiy |
[8] |
| 2013 Tahiti | Dona |
[9] |
| 2015 Portugal | Jonathan Torohia |
[10] |
FIFA Fair Play Award
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 |
[3] |
| 2006 Brazil | France |
[4] |
| 2007 Brazil | Brazil |
[5] |
| 2008 France | Russia |
[6] |
| 2009 United Arab Emirates | Japan Russia |
[7] |
| 2011 Italy | Nigeria |
[8] |
| 2013 Tahiti | Russia |
[9] |
| 2015 Portugal | Brazil |
[10] |
References
- ↑ "Valcke : Beach soccer on the move". Fifa.com. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
- ↑ Archived March 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- 1 2 3 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2005". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2007". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseilles 2008". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Ravenna/Italy 2011". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
External links
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