Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations

Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations

Logo for the 2015 edition
Founded	2006
Region	Africa (CAF)
Number of teams	8 (finals) 20 (in qualifying)
Current champions	Madagascar (1st title)
Most successful team(s)	Senegal (3 titles)

The Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (previously known as the CAF Beach Soccer Championship prior to 2016) is the main international championship for beach soccer in Africa, mirroring that of the Africa Cup of Nations in association football, aiming to crown the best nation on the continent. Also referred to as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for CAF, the championship was established in 2006 after FIFA made requirements for all confederations to begin holding a qualification tournament to determine the best national team(s) in the region and hence those who would proceed to represent their continent in the forthcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.^[1] Therefore since the Word Cup takes place every two years, so does the championship.

Africa was awarded two spots at the finals under FIFA's new changes to the organisation of the World Cup and hence the winners and runners-up of the championship qualify to the succeeding World Cup finals. Before 2006, there was no consistent method of qualification or number of spots at the World Cup for African nations, with countries often simply being invited to play in the finals, without competing for a regional title beforehand.

Organisation of the championship had previously all but been the responsibility of Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW),^[2] however, after minimal input in preceding editions, in 2015 CAF made a commitment to extensively increase their involvement in the organisation of the championship. This saw mass expansion, with CAF establishing a qualification phase taking place first to determine the elite eight nations to compete in the finals of the championship itself, as opposed to automatic entry as in the past, causing a surge in the number of teams participating.^[3] This involvement lead to CAF referring to the tournament as the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations to which it was officially renamed for the 2016 event.^[4]

Preparing for the 2017 edition, CAF announced that, since three major CAF competitions are held in odd years already, the tournament would be changing to be held in even years henceforth, starting with 2016.^[5]

The most successful nation is Senegal, who have won the tournament three of the seven times, and have qualified for the World Cup five times.

Tournament results

Year	Location	Final			Third place match
		Champion	Score	Runner-Up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2006 details	Durban, South Africa	Cameroon	5 – 3	Nigeria	Egypt	8 – 3	Côte d'Ivoire
2007 details	Durban, South Africa	Nigeria	6 – 5	Senegal	Côte d'Ivoire	2 – 0	South Africa
2008 details	Durban, South Africa	Senegal	12 – 6	Cameroon	Côte d'Ivoire	6 – 3	Egypt
2009 details	Durban, South Africa	Nigeria	7 – 4	Côte d'Ivoire	Senegal	6 – 4	Egypt
2011 details	Casablanca, Morocco	Senegal	7 – 4	Nigeria	Egypt	4 – 4 aet (1 – 0) pen	Madagascar
2013 details	El Jadida, Morocco	Senegal	4 – 1	Côte d'Ivoire	Morocco	7 – 2	Nigeria
2015 details	Roche Caiman, Seychelles	Madagascar	1 – 1 aet (2 – 1) pen	Senegal	Nigeria	9 – 1	Côte d'Ivoire
2016 details	Lagos, Nigeria [5]

Successful nations

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third Place	Fourth Place
Senegal	3 (2008, 2011, 2013)	2 (2007, 2015)	1 (2009)	-
Nigeria	2 (2007, 2009)	3 (2006, 2011)	1 (2015)	1 (2013)
Cameroon	1 (2006)	1 (2008)	-	-
Madagascar	1 (2015)	-	-	1 (2011)
Côte d'Ivoire	-	2 (2009, 2013)	2 (2007, 2008)	2 (2006, 2015)
Egypt	-	-	2 (2006, 2011)	2 (2008, 2009)
Morocco	-	-	1 (2013)	-
South Africa	-	-	-	1 (2007)

Appearances

These are the nations who have qualified to appear in the CAF Beach Soccer Championship since 2006.

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• R1 – Group Stage (2007–present)
• • – Did not quality
• •• – Qualified but withdrew
• q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
•    – Hosts

	2006 (6)	2007 (8)	2008 (8)	2009 (9)	2011 (9)	2013 (8)	2015 (8)	2016 (TBA)	Total
Algeria	•	•	•	•	R1	•	•		1
Cameroon	1st	R1	2nd	•	•	•	•		3
Cape Verde	•	6th	R1	•	•	•	•		1
Ivory Coast	4th	3rd	3rd	2nd	R1	2nd	4th		7
Democratic Republic of the Congo	•	•	•	•	••	•	•		0
Egypt	3rd	5th	4th	4th	3rd	R1	6th		7
Ghana	•	•	•	•	•	R1	7th		2
Libya	•	•	•	R1	R1	R1	•		3
Mauritius	•	•	•	R1	•	•	•		1
Madagascar	•	•	•	•	4th	R1	1st		3
Morocco	6th	•	•	R1	R1	3rd	5th		5
Mozambique	•	R1	R1	R1	•	•	•		3
Nigeria	2nd	1st	R1	1st	2nd	4th	3rd		7
Senegal	•	2nd	1st	3rd	1st	1st	2nd		6
Seychelles	•	•	•	•	•	•	8th		1
South Africa	5th	4th	R1	R1	R1	•	•		5

World Cup performance

The following is a performance timeline of the African nations who have qualified through progressing far enough in the championship to appear in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup since 2006 when qualifying rounds were introduced for all confederations.

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• QF – Quarterfinals
• R1 – Round 1 (group stage)
• q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
•    – Hosts

Team	2006	2007	2008	2009	2011	2013	2015	2017	Total times qualified
Cameroon	R1		R1						2
Ivory Coast				R1		R1			2
Madagascar							R1		1
Nigeria	R1	QF		R1	QF				4
Senegal		QF	R1		QF	R1	R1		5

External links

1. "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 qualifiers to start in Brazil on 5 March". fifa.com. 3 March 2006. Archived from the original on May 13, 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
2. "Regulation FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006" (PDF). fifa.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
3. "Regulations of the African Beach Soccer Championship" (PDF). cafonline.com. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
4. "Decisions of CAF Executive Committee on 6 August 2015". CAF. 9 August 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
5. "NFF constitutes LOC for 2016 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations". goal.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.

• Confederation of African Football