FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Founded | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Region | International (FIFA) |
| Number of teams | 16 (Finals) |
| Current champions |  Brazil (13th title) |
| Most successful team | Brazil (13 titles) |
| Website | www.fifa.com/beachsoccerworldcup/ |
 2009 Qualification Information |
|
The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is a football competition in beach football organised by the world football governing body FIFA for national teams.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Foundation
The first Beach Soccer World Cup was held in Brazil, in 1995, organised by the 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Extending the World Cup
By the end of the 2007 World Cup, the tournament had become very popular throughout the world, thanks to the highly respected FIFA board taking over the competition, influencing more countries to take beach soccer more seriously 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 looks to be an even bigger success, as the second competition outside Brazil and the Beach Soccer World Cup's 15th birthday.
[edit] Qualification
Current: 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup#Qualification Rounds
From 1995 to 2005 (inclusive), teams were selected for the World Cup; they did not have to qualify. However with the interest from so many countries, FIFA decided to standardise the format for the World Cup in 2006 for future World Cups. FIFA agreed that countries from each confederation will play in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifiers, with 16 teams eventually qualifying for the finals. The number of countries qualifying from each confederation would always be the same as the table shows below:
| Confederation | (Continent) | Amount of countries qualifying |
|---|---|---|
| UEFA | Europe | 5 teams |
| CONMEBOL | South America | 3 teams |
| AFC | Asia | 2 teams |
| CAF | Africa | 2 teams |
| CONCACAF | North, Central America and the Caribbean | 2 teams |
| OFC | Oceania | 1 team |
| Total (Plus Host Nation) | 16 teams |
Qualification continues to be the same. Note that the host countries' continent loses one qualification spot. E.g. since the 2009 World Cup is in United Arab Emirates, they automatically qualify as an Asian team. Therefore in the AFC Beach Soccer Word Cup Qualifiers, only two teams will qualify to join the hosts, UAE.
[edit] Results
[edit] FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
| Year | Location | Winners | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Player of the tournament | Top goalscorer(s) | Best goalkeeper | Goals (average per game) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 Details |
 Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
 Brazil |
 Switzerland |
 Portugal |
 Uruguay |
Dejan Stankovic (SUI) | 16 goals Dejan Stankovic (SUI) |
Mão (BRA) | 269 (8.7) |
| 2008 Details |
 Plage du Prado, Marseille, France |
Brazil |
 Italy |
Portugal |
 Spain |
Amarelle (ESP) | 13 goals Madjer (POR) |
Roberto Valeiro (ESP) | 258 (8.3) |
| 2007 Details |
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Brazil |
 Mexico |
Uruguay |
 France |
Buru (BRA) | 10 goals Buru (BRA) |
249 (7.8) | |
| 2006 Details |
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Brazil |
Uruguay |
France |
Portugal |
Madjer (POR) | 21 goals Madjer (POR) |
286 (8.9) | |
| 2005 Details |
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
France |
Portugal |
Brazil |
 Japan |
Madjer (POR) | 12 goals Madjer (POR) |
164 (8.2) |
[edit] Beach Soccer World Championship
[edit] Successful national teams
In all, 38 nations have played in at least one World Beach Soccer Cup. Of these, only three nations have successfully won the World Cup in 15 years. Brazil have won 13 World Cups and clearly dominate. Portugal, who eliminated Brazil both times they did not win, won in 2001. France won in the first FIFA sanctioned tournament in 2005. Both Brazil and Uruguay are the only nations to have played in every World Cup to date.
| Team | Titles | Runners-up | Third-place | Fourth-place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil |
13 (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) | - | 1 (2005) | 1 (2001) |
 Portugal |
1 (2001) | 3 (1999, 2002, 2005) | 4 (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009) | 1 (2006) |
| France |
1 (2005) | 2 (1998, 2001) | 1 (2006) | 2 (2003, 2007) |
 Uruguay |
- | 3 (1996, 1997, 2006) | 4 (1998, 1999, 2002, 2007) | 1 (2009) |
 Spain |
- | 2 (2003, 2004) | 1 (2000) | 1 (2008) |
 Italy |
- | 1 (2008) | 1 (1996) | 2 (1995, 2004) |
 United States |
- | 1 (1995) | 1 (1997) | 1 (1996) |
 Peru |
- | 1 (2000) | - | 2 (1998, 1999) |
 Mexico |
- | 1 (2007) | - | - |
 Switzerland |
- | 1 (2009) | - | - |
 Argentina |
- | - | 1 (2001) | 1 (1997) |
 England |
- | - | 1 (1995) | - |
 Japan |
- | - | - | 2 (2000, 2005) |
 Thailand |
- | - | - | 1 (2002) |
[edit] Tournament appearances as of 2009
Since the tournament's establishment in 1995, as of the 2009 World Cup, 38 different countries have participated over the 15 competitions. However only two countries have successfully participated in all World Cups, which are Brazil and Uruguay. Surprisingly, Uruguay have never won the trophy, whereas Brazil have won 12 of the 14. European teams have dominated in appearances by continent, since 14 of the 38 different countries have been from Europe. Since qualification has been standardised, fewer new countries are expected to make an appearance.
| Appearances | Country |
|---|---|
| 15 | Brazil Uruguay |
| 13 | Italy Portugal |
| 12 | Argentina France Spain United States |
| 9 | Japan |
| 5 | Peru |
| 4 |  Germany Russia Solomon Islands |
| 3 |  Canada Iran Nigeria United Arab Emirates |
| 2 |  Bahrain Cameroon Costa Rica El Salvador Mexico Senegal Switzerland South Africa Thailand Venezuela |
| 1 |  Australia Belgium Chile Côte d'Ivoire Denmark England Malaysia Netherlands Poland Turkey Ukraine |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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