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FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Page issues FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Founded 1995; 21 years ago (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 Edit

Foundation Edit 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 Edit 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.

Brazil national beach soccer team: 13 times winners 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 Edit 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.

A scene from the 2007 event in Brazil Extending the World Cup Edit 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.[citation needed]

Two year basis Edit 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 Edit

Pre-2006 Edit 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 Edit 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 Edit 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 2017 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 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations 2 teams 6 8 8 9 9 8 20 15 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 Edit

See also: List of FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup finals Beach Soccer World Championships Edit Year Location Winners Runners-up Third place Fourth place Number of teams Best player Top goalscorer(s) Best goalkeeper Goals scored (avg. per game) 1995 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil United States England Italy 8 Zico (BRA) Júnior (BRA) 12 goals Zico (BRA) Altobelli (ITA) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 149 (9.3) 1996 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Uruguay Italy United States 8 Edinho (BRA) 14 goals Altobelli (ITA) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 131 (8.2) 1997 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Uruguay United States Argentina 8 Júnior (BRA) 11 goals Júnior (BRA) Ramos (URU) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 144 (9.0) 1998 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil France Uruguay Peru 10 Júnior (BRA) 14 goals Júnior (BRA) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 219 (9.1) 1999 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Portugal Uruguay Peru 12 Jorginho (BRA) 10 goals Júnior (BRA) Matosas (URU) Pedro Crespo (POR) 186 (9.3) 2000 Details Brazil Marina da Glória, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Peru Spain Japan 12 Júnior (BRA) 13 goals Júnior (BRA) Eichi Kato (JPN) 172 (8.6) 2001 Details Brazil Costa do Sauípe, Bahia, Brazil Portugal France Argentina Brazil 12 Hernâni (POR) 10 goals Alan (POR) Pascal Olmeta (FRA) 144 (7.2) 2002 Details Brazil Vitória, Espírito Santo and Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil Brazil Portugal Uruguay Thailand 8 Neném (BRA) 9 goals Neném (BRA) Madjer (POR) Nico (URU) Vilarb Nomcharoen (THA) 145 (9.1) 2003 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Spain Portugal France 8 Amarelle (ESP) 15 goals Neném (BRA) Robertinho (BRA) 150 (9.4) 2004 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Spain Portugal Italy 12 Jorginho (BRA) 12 goals Madjer (POR) Roberto Valeiro (ESP) 155 (7.8) FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups Edit Year Location Winners Runners-up Third place Fourth place Number of teams Best player Top goalscorer(s) Best goalkeeper Goals scored (avg. per game) 2005 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil France Portugal Brazil Japan 12 Madjer (POR) 12 goals Madjer (POR) — 164 (8.2) 2006 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Uruguay France Portugal 16 Madjer (POR) 21 goals Madjer (POR) — 286 (8.9) 2007 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Mexico Uruguay France 16 Buru (BRA) 10 goals Buru (BRA) — 261 (8.2) 2008 Details France Plages du Prado, Marseille, France Brazil Italy Portugal Spain 16 Amarelle (ESP) 13 goals Madjer (POR) Roberto Valeiro (ESP) 258 (8.3) 2009 Details United Arab Emirates Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Brazil Switzerland Portugal Uruguay 16 Dejan Stankovic (SUI) 16 goals Dejan Stankovic (SUI) Mão (BRA) 269 (8.7) 2011 Details Italy Marina di Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy Russia Brazil Portugal El Salvador 16 Ilya Leonov (RUS) 14 goals André (BRA) Andrey Bukhlitskiy (RUS) 269 (8.4) 2013 Details French Polynesia Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia Russia Spain Brazil Tahiti 16 Bruno Xavier (BRA) 11 goals Dmitrii Shishin (RUS) Dona (ESP) 243 (7.6) 2015 Details Portugal Praia da Baía, Espinho, Portugal Portugal Tahiti Russia Italy 16 Heimanu Philippe Taiarui (TAH) 8 goals Pedro Moran (PAR) Madjer (POR) Noel Ott (SUI) Jonathan Rotui Torohia (TAH) 257 (8.0) 2017 Details The Bahamas Nassau,[3] The Bahamas 16 Key Bold Years = FIFA tournaments * = Hosts Successful national teams Edit 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 Edit

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

Map of the countries that have appeared in any World Cup 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  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 Edit

Map of best results in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup by countries 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 Edit

Golden Ball Edit 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 Portugal Madjer Brazil Neném Spain Amarelle [4] 2006 Brazil Portugal Madjer Brazil Benjamin Brazil Bruno [5] 2007 Brazil Brazil Buru Portugal Madjer Mexico Morgan Plata [6] 2008 France Spain Amarelle Brazil Benjamin Portugal Belchior [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Switzerland Dejan Stankovic Portugal Madjer Brazil Benjamin [8] 2011 Italy Russia Ilya Leonov Brazil André El Salvador Frank Velasquez [9] 2013 Tahiti Brazil Bruno Xavier Japan Ozu Moreira French Polynesia Raimana Li Fung Kuee [10] 2015 Portugal French Polynesia Heimanu Philippe Taiarui Portugal Alan Portugal Madjer [11] Golden Shoe Edit 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 Portugal Madjer 12 Brazil Neném 9 France Mendy 8 [4] 2006 Brazil Portugal Madjer 21 Brazil Benjamin 12 Brazil Bruno 10 [5] 2007 Brazil Brazil Buru 10 Mexico Morgan Plata 9 Brazil Bruno 8 [6] 2008 France Portugal Madjer 13 Spain Amarelle 11 Portugal Belchior 10 [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Switzerland Dejan Stankovic 16 Portugal Madjer 11 Brazil Buru 10 [8] 2011 Italy Brazil André 14 Portugal Madjer 12 El Salvador Frank Velásquez 9 [9] 2013 Tahiti Russia Dmitrii Shishin 11 Brazil Bruno Xavier 10 El Salvador Agustín Ruiz 7 [10] 2015 Portugal Paraguay Pedro Moran 8 Portugal Madjer 8 Switzerland Noel Ott 8 [11] Golden Glove Edit The Golden Glove Award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

World Cup Golden Glove Ref(s) 2008 France Spain Roberto Valeiro [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Brazil Mão [8] 2011 Italy Russia Andrey Bukhlitskiy [9] 2013 Tahiti Spain Dona [10] 2015 Portugal French Polynesia Jonathan Torohia [11] FIFA Fair Play Award Edit 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 Japan [4] 2006 Brazil France France [5] 2007 Brazil Brazil Brazil [6] 2008 France Russia Russia [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Japan Japan Russia Russia [8] 2011 Italy Nigeria Nigeria [9] 2013 Tahiti Russia Russia [10] 2015 Portugal Brazil Brazil [11]FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Page issues FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Founded 1995; 21 years ago (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 Edit

Foundation Edit 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 Edit 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.

Brazil national beach soccer team: 13 times winners 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 Edit 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.

A scene from the 2007 event in Brazil Extending the World Cup Edit 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.[citation needed]

Two year basis Edit 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 Edit

Pre-2006 Edit 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 Edit 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 Edit 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 2017 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 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations 2 teams 6 8 8 9 9 8 20 15 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 Edit

See also: List of FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup finals Beach Soccer World Championships Edit Year Location Winners Runners-up Third place Fourth place Number of teams Best player Top goalscorer(s) Best goalkeeper Goals scored (avg. per game) 1995 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil United States England Italy 8 Zico (BRA) Júnior (BRA) 12 goals Zico (BRA) Altobelli (ITA) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 149 (9.3) 1996 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Uruguay Italy United States 8 Edinho (BRA) 14 goals Altobelli (ITA) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 131 (8.2) 1997 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Uruguay United States Argentina 8 Júnior (BRA) 11 goals Júnior (BRA) Ramos (URU) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 144 (9.0) 1998 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil France Uruguay Peru 10 Júnior (BRA) 14 goals Júnior (BRA) Paulo Sérgio (BRA) 219 (9.1) 1999 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Portugal Uruguay Peru 12 Jorginho (BRA) 10 goals Júnior (BRA) Matosas (URU) Pedro Crespo (POR) 186 (9.3) 2000 Details Brazil Marina da Glória, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Peru Spain Japan 12 Júnior (BRA) 13 goals Júnior (BRA) Eichi Kato (JPN) 172 (8.6) 2001 Details Brazil Costa do Sauípe, Bahia, Brazil Portugal France Argentina Brazil 12 Hernâni (POR) 10 goals Alan (POR) Pascal Olmeta (FRA) 144 (7.2) 2002 Details Brazil Vitória, Espírito Santo and Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil Brazil Portugal Uruguay Thailand 8 Neném (BRA) 9 goals Neném (BRA) Madjer (POR) Nico (URU) Vilarb Nomcharoen (THA) 145 (9.1) 2003 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Spain Portugal France 8 Amarelle (ESP) 15 goals Neném (BRA) Robertinho (BRA) 150 (9.4) 2004 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Spain Portugal Italy 12 Jorginho (BRA) 12 goals Madjer (POR) Roberto Valeiro (ESP) 155 (7.8) FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups Edit Year Location Winners Runners-up Third place Fourth place Number of teams Best player Top goalscorer(s) Best goalkeeper Goals scored (avg. per game) 2005 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil France Portugal Brazil Japan 12 Madjer (POR) 12 goals Madjer (POR) — 164 (8.2) 2006 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Uruguay France Portugal 16 Madjer (POR) 21 goals Madjer (POR) — 286 (8.9) 2007 Details Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil Mexico Uruguay France 16 Buru (BRA) 10 goals Buru (BRA) — 261 (8.2) 2008 Details France Plages du Prado, Marseille, France Brazil Italy Portugal Spain 16 Amarelle (ESP) 13 goals Madjer (POR) Roberto Valeiro (ESP) 258 (8.3) 2009 Details United Arab Emirates Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Brazil Switzerland Portugal Uruguay 16 Dejan Stankovic (SUI) 16 goals Dejan Stankovic (SUI) Mão (BRA) 269 (8.7) 2011 Details Italy Marina di Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy Russia Brazil Portugal El Salvador 16 Ilya Leonov (RUS) 14 goals André (BRA) Andrey Bukhlitskiy (RUS) 269 (8.4) 2013 Details French Polynesia Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia Russia Spain Brazil Tahiti 16 Bruno Xavier (BRA) 11 goals Dmitrii Shishin (RUS) Dona (ESP) 243 (7.6) 2015 Details Portugal Praia da Baía, Espinho, Portugal Portugal Tahiti Russia Italy 16 Heimanu Philippe Taiarui (TAH) 8 goals Pedro Moran (PAR) Madjer (POR) Noel Ott (SUI) Jonathan Rotui Torohia (TAH) 257 (8.0) 2017 Details The Bahamas Nassau,[3] The Bahamas 16 Key Bold Years = FIFA tournaments * = Hosts Successful national teams Edit 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 Edit

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

Map of the countries that have appeared in any World Cup 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  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 Edit

Map of best results in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup by countries 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 Edit

Golden Ball Edit 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 Portugal Madjer Brazil Neném Spain Amarelle [4] 2006 Brazil Portugal Madjer Brazil Benjamin Brazil Bruno [5] 2007 Brazil Brazil Buru Portugal Madjer Mexico Morgan Plata [6] 2008 France Spain Amarelle Brazil Benjamin Portugal Belchior [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Switzerland Dejan Stankovic Portugal Madjer Brazil Benjamin [8] 2011 Italy Russia Ilya Leonov Brazil André El Salvador Frank Velasquez [9] 2013 Tahiti Brazil Bruno Xavier Japan Ozu Moreira French Polynesia Raimana Li Fung Kuee [10] 2015 Portugal French Polynesia Heimanu Philippe Taiarui Portugal Alan Portugal Madjer [11] Golden Shoe Edit 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 Portugal Madjer 12 Brazil Neném 9 France Mendy 8 [4] 2006 Brazil Portugal Madjer 21 Brazil Benjamin 12 Brazil Bruno 10 [5] 2007 Brazil Brazil Buru 10 Mexico Morgan Plata 9 Brazil Bruno 8 [6] 2008 France Portugal Madjer 13 Spain Amarelle 11 Portugal Belchior 10 [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Switzerland Dejan Stankovic 16 Portugal Madjer 11 Brazil Buru 10 [8] 2011 Italy Brazil André 14 Portugal Madjer 12 El Salvador Frank Velásquez 9 [9] 2013 Tahiti Russia Dmitrii Shishin 11 Brazil Bruno Xavier 10 El Salvador Agustín Ruiz 7 [10] 2015 Portugal Paraguay Pedro Moran 8 Portugal Madjer 8 Switzerland Noel Ott 8 [11] Golden Glove Edit The Golden Glove Award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

World Cup Golden Glove Ref(s) 2008 France Spain Roberto Valeiro [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Brazil Mão [8] 2011 Italy Russia Andrey Bukhlitskiy [9] 2013 Tahiti Spain Dona [10] 2015 Portugal French Polynesia Jonathan Torohia [11] FIFA Fair Play Award Edit 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 Japan [4] 2006 Brazil France France [5] 2007 Brazil Brazil Brazil [6] 2008 France Russia Russia [7] 2009 United Arab Emirates Japan Japan Russia Russia [8] 2011 Italy Nigeria Nigeria [9] 2013 Tahiti Russia Russia [10] 2015 Portugal Brazil Brazil [11]