Beach Soccer World Championships

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Beach Soccer World Championships
Founded1995
Abolished2004
RegionInternational
Number of teams12
Last champions Brazil (9th title)
Most successful team(s) Brazil (9 titles)

The Beach Soccer World Championships was the premier international beach soccer competition contested by men's national teams between 1995 and 2004. It was replaced by the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[1]

The tournament took place annually in Brazil under the supervision of Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) and its predecessors, crowning the world champions of the sport.[2] Due to the sport's rapid growth, FIFA took an interest in it, and as the main tournament in world beach soccer, it joined hands with BSWW in 2005 to take over the organization of the competition, re-branding it as an official FIFA tournament.[3]

Brazil were the most successful team, winning nine of the ten tournaments.

History[]

The first Beach Soccer World Championship 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.

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, before being replaced by the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup the next year.

Results[]

# Year Location(s) Final Third place play-off No. of
teams
Goals
(match avg.)
Champions Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place
1 1995
Details
Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
8–1
United States

England
7–6
Italy
8 149 (9.3)
2 1996
Details
Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
3–0
Uruguay

Italy
4–3
United States
8 131 (8.2)
3 1997
Details
Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
5–2
Uruguay

United States
5–1
Argentina
8 144 (9.0)
4 1998
Details
Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
9–2
France

Uruguay
6–3
Peru
10 218 (9.1)
5 1999
Details
Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
5–2
Portugal

Uruguay
2–2 (a.e.t.)
(5–4 p.)

Peru
12 174 (8.7)
6 2000
Details
Brazil Marina da Glória, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
6–2
Peru

Spain
6–3
Japan
12 172 (8.6)
7 2001
Details
Brazil Costa do Sauípe, Mata de São João, Brazil

Portugal
9–3
France

Argentina
4–2
Brazil
12 144 (7.2)
8 2002
Details
Brazil Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil;
Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil

Brazil
6–5
Portugal

Uruguay
5–3
Thailand
8 145 (9.1)
9 2003
Details
Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
8–2
Spain

Portugal
7–4
France
8 150 (9.4)
10 2004
Details
Brazil Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
6–4
Spain

Portugal
5–1
Italy
12 155 (7.8)

Teams reaching the top four[]

Overall, half of the 24 nations who ever competed made a top four finish; only two won the title. Brazil were by far the most successful nation, winning nine titles of the possible ten. Portugal claimed the only crown Brazil did not win.

Brazil were also the only nation to finish in the final four of every championship.

Nation Titles Runners-up Third place Fourth place Total top 4
 Brazil 9 (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004) 1 (2001) 10
 Portugal 1 (2001) 2 (1999, 2002) 2 (2003, 2004) 5
 Uruguay 2 (1996, 1997) 3 (1998, 1999, 2002) 5
 Spain 2 (2003, 2004) 1 (2000) 3
 France 2 (1998, 2001) 1 (2003) 3
 United States 1 (1995) 1 (1997) 1 (1996) 3
 Peru 1 (2000) 2 (1998, 1999) 3
 Italy 1 (1996) 2 (1995, 2004) 3
 Argentina 1 (2001) 1 (1997) 2
 England 1 (1995) 1
 Japan 1 (2000) 1
 Thailand 1 (2002) 1
Note: Brazil hosted all tournaments.

By confederation[]

Total times teams played by confederation
Asia Africa North America South America Oceania Europe Total
Teams 6 1 11 36 0 44 98
Top 8 5 0 10 30 0 35 80
Top 4 2 0 3 20 0 15 40
Top 2 0 0 1 12 0 7 20
1st 0 0 0 9 0 1 10
2nd 0 0 1 3 0 6 10
3rd 0 0 1 4 0 5 10
4th 2 0 1 4 0 3 10

Tournament appearances[]

24 countries participated over the ten competitions, however nearly half (11) only appeared at one edition. Three participated in all World Championships: Brazil, Italy and Uruguay. European teams dominated in unique appearances by continent, since half of all countries were from Europe. Oceania were the only region never to be represented at least once.

Only eight of the 24 countries have failed to reappear at a FIFA controlled World Cup. Peru (5) appeared in the most competitions without yet participating in a FIFA World Cup.

Apps. Country First Last Best result
10  Brazil 1995 2004 Champions
 Italy 1995 2004 Third place
 Uruguay 1995 2004 Runners-up
9  United States 1995 2004 Runners-up
8  Argentina 1995 2004 Third place
 France 1997 2004 Runners-up
 Portugal 1997 2004 Champions
7  Spain 1998 2004 Runners-up
5  Peru 1998 2004 Runners-up
4  Germany 1995 2004 Round 1
 Japan 1997 2003 Fourth place
2  Canada 1996 1999 QFs
 Venezuela 2000 2001 QFs
1  England 1995 Third place
 Netherlands 1995 Round 1
 Denmark 1996 Round 1
 Russia 1996 Round 1
 Chile 1998 Round 1
 Malaysia 1999 Round 1
 South Africa 1999 Round 1
 Turkey 2001 Round 1
 Thailand 2002 Fourth place
 Belgium 2004 Round 1
  Switzerland 2004 QFs

All-time table[]

This table shows the overall statistics of all 10 World Championships that occurred between 1995 and 2004.

Key
Appearances Apps / Win in Normal Time W = 3 Points / Win in Extra Time or in a Penalty shoot-out W+ = 2 Points / Loss L = 0 Points / Points per game PPG
Pos Team Apps Pld W W+ L GF GA Dif Pts PPG Win %
1  Brazil 10 50 48 0 2 422 123 +299 144 2.88 96 (48–2)
2  Portugal 8 35 23 1 11 177 119 +58 71 2.03 68.6 (24–11)
3  Uruguay 10 39 16 4 19 155 155 0 56 1.44 51.3 (20–19)
4  United States 9 33 15 0 18 112 138 −26 45 1.36 45.5 (15–18)
5  Spain 7 27 14 1 12 109 108 +1 44 1.63 55.6 (15–12)
6  Italy 10 36 12 1 23 128 183 −55 38 1.06 36.1 (13–23)
7  France 8 29 11 1 17 115 154 −39 35 1.21 41.4 (12–17)
8  Peru 5 21 11 0 10 81 78 +3 33 1.57 52.4 (11–10)
9  Argentina 8 30 10 0 20 82 122 −40 30 1 33.3 (10–20)
10  Japan 4 14 3 1 10 40 78 −38 11 0.79 28.6 (4–10)
11  England 1 5 2 0 3 20 31 −11 6 1.2 40 (2–3)
12  Canada 2 6 2 0 4 22 37 −15 6 1 33.3 (2–4)
13  Thailand 1 5 1 1 3 13 21 −8 5 1 40 (2–3)
14  Venezuela 2 5 1 0 4 14 16 −2 3 0.6 20 (1–4)
15  Russia 1 3 1 0 2 7 10 −3 3 1 33.3 (1–2)
16  Denmark 1 3 1 0 2 10 16 −6 3 1 33.3 (1–2)
17  Chile 1 4 1 0 3 14 22 −8 3 0.75 25 (1–3)
18   Switzerland 1 3 1 0 2 9 17 −8 3 1 33.3 (1–2)
19  Germany 4 9 1 0 8 22 56 −34 3 0.33 11.1 (1–8)
20  Turkey 1 2 0 0 2 1 5 −4 0 0 0
21  Malaysia 1 2 0 0 2 4 13 −9 0 0 0
22  South Africa 1 2 0 0 2 2 14 −12 0 0 0
23  Belgium 1 2 0 0 2 5 18 −13 0 0 0
24  Netherlands 1 3 0 0 3 7 30 −23 0 0 0

Awards[]

The following documents the winners of the awards presented at the conclusion of the tournament. Three awards were consistently bestowed at each event.

Year Top goalscorer(s) Gls Best player(s) Best goalkeeper Ref.
1995 Italy Alessandro Altobelli
Brazil Zico
12 Brazil Júnior
Brazil Zico
Brazil Paulo Sérgio [1]
1996 Italy Alessandro Altobelli 14 Brazil Edinho Brazil Paulo Sérgio [2]
1997 Brazil Júnior
Uruguay Venancio Ramos
11 Brazil Júnior Brazil Paulo Sérgio [3]
1998 Brazil Júnior 14 Brazil Júnior Brazil Paulo Sérgio [4]
1999 Brazil Júnior
Uruguay Gustavo Matosas
10 Brazil Jorginho Portugal Pedro Crespo [5]
2000 Brazil Júnior 13 Brazil Júnior Japan Eichi Kato [6]
2001 Portugal Alan 10 Portugal Hernâni France Pascal Olmeta [7]
2002 Portugal Madjer
Brazil Neném
Uruguay Nico
9 Brazil Neném Thailand Vilard Normcharoen [8]
2003 Brazil Neném 15 Spain Amarelle Brazil Robertinho [9]
2004 Portugal Madjer 12 Brazil Jorginho Spain Roberto Valeiro [10]

Top goalscorers[]

From the data available,[Note] the below table shows the top 20 goalscorers of the World Championships.

Rank Player Team Goals
1 Júnior  Brazil 71
2 Neném  Brazil 55
3 Júnior Negão  Brazil 54
4 Madjer  Portugal 52
5 Jorginho  Brazil 43
6 Alan  Portugal 37
7 Venancio Ramos  Uruguay 34
8 Amarelle  Spain 32
9 Alessandro Altobelli  Italy 30
Benjamin  Brazil
11 Cláudio Adão  Brazil 28
12 Edinho  Brazil 25
Juninho  Brazil
14 Zico  Brazil 23
15 Hernâni  Portugal 22
Magal  Brazil
17 Gabriel Silvera  Uruguay 20
18 Gustavo Matosas  Uruguay 18
19 Zak Ibsen  United States 17
Nico  Uruguay
Jorge Olaechea  Peru
Carlos Russo  Argentina

Sources:
1995–2001 (combined scorers), 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
Notes:^
  • Note that the sources from 1995–2002 only list the players with the most goals from all those tournaments combined; players must have scored at least 10 goals overall to make the list; players with less goals are not listed. This means for players who subsequently scored enough goals to make the above all-time table, if they played between 1995–2002 and scored less than 10 goals, they would not have made the source lists and therefore any goals they did score during that time are a) unknown and b) missing from the above table (if they did score any).
  • Note that there are some discrepancies between FIFA's match reports and FIFA's top scorers lists for the same tournament.
  • During the early years of beach soccer, goals scored in a penalty shootout were often combined with goals scored during regulation time when the match score was documented – note that it is also possible such goals may have been counted in a player's goal tally in the sources.

Attendance figures[]

Note that attendance records are not available between 1995 and 2002.

Year Location Stadium capacity Matches Total gate Lowest gate Highest gate Average gate Attendance %dagger
2003 Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 6,000 16 74,700 2,000 6,000 4,669 78%
2004 Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 10,000 20 81,900 500 10,000 4,095 41%
Key:
  • dagger – overall percentage matches were attended from the total possible maximum attendance figure if all matches were at full capacity: total gate / (stadium capacity x matches played)

References[]

  1. ^ DUBAI 2009: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Bleacher Report. 25 November 2009.
  2. ^ FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017 Statistical Kit – post event edition. FIFA. 14 August 2017.
  3. ^ "FIFA launches first ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup". fifa.com. 1 February 2005. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.

External links[]

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