FIFA_Beach_Soccer_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA)

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA)

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Football tournament

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup – Europe qualifier is a beach soccer championship that takes place to determine the nations who will represent Europe at the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[1] It is contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of UEFA.

Quick Facts Organising body, Founded ...

In 2006, FIFA made qualification to the World Cup mandatory (previously, nations were simply invited).[2] Originally, the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) doubled as Europe's qualification tournament;[3][4] in 2008, this separate championship was created as the European qualification route.[5] FIFA currently allocate Europe five berths at the World Cup[6] and hence the top five teams qualify to the World Cup finals.[see notes] Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2010; the World Cup then became biennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit.

Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) have organised the event since its inception. Europe's governing body for football, UEFA, only began involvement in 2019 – sending delegates and financial support.[7] Unlike the World Cup qualifiers for UEFA in football, it is a knockout tournament with a champion crowned. Its large scale and competitiveness are often noted, making it viewed as a major title to win.[8][9]

Spain are the most successful team with four titles. However, Portugal have secured qualification to the World Cup on the most occasions (seven).

Founding

In 2006, FIFA declared that for teams to enter the World Cup, they now must qualify (previously, most teams entered by invitation).[2] Qualification tournaments were subsequently established in all continental zones, except for Europe.[10] For European teams, a qualification process had already been implemented for the previous handful of World Cups – the top placed teams of the most recent season of the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) earned qualification to the upcoming edition of the World Cup.[11] Thus, the EBSL continued to double as the qualifying route for European teams.[3][4]

In 2008, FIFA proclaimed that the next editions of the World Cup would take place in different countries.[12] Until that point, all World Cups had been held in Brazil during summertime of the Southern Hemisphere, months after the conclusion of that year's EBSL season. That year, the World Cup was held in Marseille, France, and during a different time of the year – in July.[12] The usual European qualification route, the EBSL, was not due to conclude until weeks after the World Cup had taken place.[5] This separate knockout tournament, dedicated purely to determining the teams qualifying to the World Cup, was organised instead; free to be placed anywhere in the calendar, it took place in the May.[5] It "made history", becoming the biggest international beach soccer event ever held at the time with 24 participants.[13] It has since returned in all future years as Europe's qualification tournament.[9] The organisers, Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), decided not to revert to using the EBSL.

Results

For all tournaments, the top four teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (except for 2009 and 2019, when the top five teams qualified).[9]

More information Year, Location ...
  1. Only shown when qualified to the World Cup.

Performance

Successful nations

More information Team, Titles ...
* Hosts

Awards

More information Year, Top goalscorer(s) ...

All-time top goalscorers

As of 2023

The following table shows the all-time top 25 goalscorers.

Source: Match reports. (However, note that some match reports are incomplete resulting in nine undocumented goalscorers (Italy 4, Azerbaijan 4, Romania 1) which, if they were to be known, may affect the table below.).

More information Rank, Player ...

All-time table

As of 2023

More information Pos, Team ...

Key: Appearances App / Won in normal time W = 3 points / Won in extra-time W+ = 2 points / Won on penalty shoot-out WP = 1 point / Lost L = 0 points / Points per game PPG

Appearances & performance timeline

The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the UEFA qualifiers and how many appearances they each have made.

Legend
‡. ^ In some years, teams knocked-out at rounds 2 or 3 played no further matches (these results are marked as R2 or R3). In other years, classification matches were then played to determine all final placements.
Timeline
More information YearTeam, 2008 (24) ...

Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup

Main article: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup records and statistics

The following is a performance timeline of the UEFA teams who have gone on to appear in the World Cup, having qualified from the above events.

Legend
Timeline
More information YearTeam, Total ...

Notes

  • The fifth placed team does not always qualify to the World Cup:
  1. [f 1]
    The fifth placed team did not qualify to the World Cup because France (2008),[14] Italy (2010)[15] and Portugal (2014)[16] claimed the fifth European spot automatically as World Cup hosts. Italy took part in the 2010 qualifiers as FIFA had yet to confirm their automatic qualification at the time.[17] France and Portugal[18] did not take part in the respective 2008 and 2014 events in knowing qualification was already secured.
  2. [f 2]
    The fifth placed team did not qualify to the World Cup in 2013. Tahiti had already qualified automatically for the World Cup as its host nation, occupying the sole OFC berth available. With the most berths, UEFA were therefore chosen by FIFA to give one of their slots to Oceania to allow an additional second team from the OFC to compete regionally and qualify to the World Cup.[19][20]
  3. [f 3]
    The fifth placed team did not qualify to the World Cup in 2017. The Bahamas had already qualified automatically for the World Cup as its host nation, occupying one of the two CONCACAF berths available. With the most berths, UEFA were therefore chosen by FIFA to give one of their spots to North America to allow two teams from CONCACAF to compete regionally and qualify to the World Cup as normal.[21][22]
  4. [f 4]
    As the runners-up, Ukraine originally qualified for the World Cup in 2021. However, the Ukrainian Association of Football subsequently refused to sanction the participation of the team at the World Cup finals in Moscow.[24] It was reported that the decision was made as part of a wider sporting boycott of Russia by Ukrainian authorities due to ongoing tensions between the two states.[25] As the next best-placed team in the qualifiers in fifth place, Switzerland qualified post factum as lucky losers in order to replace Ukraine.[24] Originally, the fifth placed team did not qualify to the 2021 World Cup because Russia claimed the fifth European spot automatically as World Cup hosts; they did not take part in the 2021 event in knowing qualification was already secured.
  5. [f 5]
    Ukraine originally qualified for the World Cup in 2024. However, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine subsequently refused to sanction the participation of the team at the World Cup finals in protest at the Belarus national team being allowed to compete, whom it believed should be barred from entering due the country's role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[26] As the next best-placed team in the qualifiers in fifth place,[27] Spain qualified post factum as lucky losers in order to replace Ukraine.[28] Originally, the fifth placed team did not qualify to the 2024 World Cup because the United Arab Emirates had already qualified automatically for the World Cup as its host nation, occupying one of the three AFC berths available. With the most berths, UEFA were therefore chosen by FIFA to give one of their spots to Asia to allow three teams from the AFC to compete regionally and qualify to the World Cup as normal.[29]
  • RFU:
  1. ^
    At the 2021 edition, in accordance with a ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the team from Russia was not permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem; it participated in the World Cup as "the team of the Russian Football Union (RFU)", and used the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee.[31] For the purpose of continuity in this article, the results of the RFU team in 2021 are considered as de facto results of the Russian national team.
  • Results 2023 (r23):
  1. ^
    The format of the 2023 event was different to all previous editions in that the tournament ended immediately following the matches that confirmed the four qualifiers to the World Cup (in prior years these matches would have been considered as the tournament's quarter-finals). There was therefore no semi-finals, final or third place match, and hence no champion of the event was crowned; all four qualifiers received a trophy recognising their achievement of qualification.[32]

References

  1. [1]
    REGULATIONS; FIFA BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP 2011; QUALIFIER BIBIONE. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  2. [2]
    "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 qualifiers to start in Brazil on 5 March". FIFA. 3 March 2006. Archived from the original on 13 May 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  3. [3]
    Spain back among the best. FIFA.com. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  4. [4]
    Russians heading for Rio. FIFA.com. 23 August 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  5. [5]
    Евролига и Кубок Мира разошлись... [The Euroleague and the World Cup have parted ways ...] (in Russian). beachsoccer.ru. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  6. [6]
    "World Cup gets bigger". FIFA. 25 August 2005. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  7. [7]
    "Алаев: пляжный футбол движется под зонтик УЕФА, процесс начался" [Alaev: beach soccer moves under the UEFA umbrella, the process has begun] (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  8. [8]
    Moscow to pass World Cup sentence. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  9. [9]
    Сверхъестественный отбор. Как в Европе сражаются за путёвки на чемпионат мира (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  10. [10]
    Tahiti hosts OFC qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 23 March 2006. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  11. [11]
    "BSWW – What". beachsoccer.com. 2001. Archived from the original on 9 April 2001. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  12. [12]
    Marseille: see you next year[dead link]. FIFA.com. 28 August 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  13. [13]
    Spanish Castellón to host Beach Soccer European Qualifier. Banderas News. February 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  14. [14]
    Презентация отборочного турнира в Бенидорме. (in Russian). beachsoccer.ru. 21 February 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  15. [15]
    FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2011 - Qualifier Bibione ready to start. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 10 July 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  16. [16]
    FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015 - Europe Qualifier Jesolo. Beach Soccer Worldwide. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  17. [17]
    Fifa World Cup Qualifier: a Bibione in palio quattro posti per il Mondiale (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  18. [18]
    UM CAMINHO QUE NOS É FAVORÁVEL (in Portuguese). Futebol de Praia Portugal. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  19. [19]
    "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013 – slot allocation" (PDF). FIFA.com. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  20. [20]
    "The road to Tahiti 2013 begins". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  21. [21]
    "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 – slot allocation" (PDF). FIFA.com. 4 April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-30. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  22. [22]
    "Лихачёв: не понимаю, почему Европа снова должна страдать" [Likhachev: I don't understand why Europe should suffer again] (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 29 March 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  23. [23]
    "Nazaré to host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup - Qualifier Europe!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  24. [24]
    "Switzerland To Replace Ukraine At Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Russia 2021™". FIFA. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  25. [25]
    ""Грати, щоб звучав наш гімн": відомий український тренер виступив проти бойкоту пляжного ЧС у Москві" (in Ukrainian). TSN. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  26. [26]
    "The men's beach soccer team of Ukraine will not play at the 2024 World Cup in the UAE". Ukrainian Association of Football. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  27. [27]
    "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup UAE 2024 - Baku European Qualifier". Beach Soccer Worldwide. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  28. [28]
    "Chiky: I gave up 11-a-side to focus on this World Cup". FIFA.com. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024. Spain only qualified as lucky losers following Ukraine's withdrawal.
  29. [29]
    "Regulations - FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup UAE 2023™ - Article 12. Number of teams" (PDF). FIFA. 1 March 2023. p. 18. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  30. [30]
    "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2025 European Qualifier to take place in Andalucia". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 10 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  31. [31]
    "ВАДА разрешило провести в Москве ЧМ по пляжному футболу" [WADA allowed to host the Beach Soccer World Cup in Moscow]. Interfax (in Russian). 21 May 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  32. [32]
    "Belarus, Portugal, Ukraine and Italy qualify for the FBSWC 2024!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 9 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
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