FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

About FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer tournament organized by FIFA. Beach Soccer Worldwide supervised the first editions of the tournament, but FIFA joined efforts in 2005, which gave the competition the status of an official FIFA tournament. Initially, the competition was held every year, but FIFA decided to re-schedule the competition to be held every two years. FIFA chose to host the competition in odd-numbered years to avoid hosting it during a FIFA World Cup year. The competition is played by 16 teams from six different confederations. Aside from the host nation, FIFA allocates all spots to play in the tournament as follows:

AFC: 3 teams
CAF: 2 team
Concacaf: 2 teams
CONMEBOL: 3 teams
OFC: 1 team
UEFA: 4 teams

Teams are drawn in four groups of four teams. Each team faces rivals to determine the two top teams entering the KO stage. Once in the knockout round, extra time and penalties are used to get a winner if the game ends drawn after regulation. As in all FIFA competitions, the tournament includes a third-place match before the final. Being the unofficial inventors of beach soccer has given Brazil an edge over their rivals, which has led to A Canarinha becoming the most successful team in the competition. Teams like Portugal and Russia have also stepped up to join the South Americans as national teams to win the tournament multiple times.