April 27 - May 7 Tournament Home on FIFA.com I became a casual follower of the sport in 2009 when Dubai hosted the competition and Switzerland advanced all the way to the final only to lose to perennial beach power Brazil.
Tournament Winners & Statistics: BSW World Championship 1995 Brazil 1996 Brazil 1997 Brazil 1998 Brazil 1999 Brazil 2000 Brazil 2001 Portugal 2002 Brazil 2003 Brazil 2004 Brazil FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2005 France 2006 Brazil 2007 Brazil 2008 Brazil 2009 Brazil 2011 Russia 2013 Russia 2015 Portugal 2017 ??? Titles by Association 13 - Brazil 2 - Portugal 2 - Russia 1 - France Titles by Confederation 13 - CONMEBOL 5 - UEFA
The opening match between Iran and Mexico is about to kick-off. Hosts Bahamas against Switzerland later today...
Not judging by the names in the 2011 edition. Day 1 Results: Iran - Mexico 3:2 Ecuador - Senegal 0:9 Nigeria - Italy 6:12 Bahamas - Switzerland 2:3 Senegal looking strong. Switzerland better get another win against Ecuador next before facing them. Traditional beach powers Brazil start today.
Day 2 Results: Japan - Poland 9:4 Portugal - Panama 7:0 Brazil - Tahiti 4:1 UAE - Paraguay 3:2 Day 3 Results: Italy - Iran 5:4 Switzerland - Ecuador 9:5 Mexico - Nigeria 4:5 AET Senegal - Bahamas 10:1 Hosts Bahamas out after two matches. Senegal, Switzerland and Italy perfect after two games.
Day 4 Results: Tahiti - Japan 4:3 Paraguay - Portugal 5:3 Poland - Brazil 4:7 Panama - UAE 2:2 / 2:3 PSO Day 5 Results: Italy - Mexico 8:1 Switzerland - Senegal 6:6 / 3:1 PSO Nigeria - Iran 4:4 / 1:2 PSO Bahamas - Ecuador 4:1 Day 6 Results: Tahiti - Poland 8:4 Paraguay - Panama 5:2 Brazil - Japan 9:3 UAE - Portugal 1:2 AET Holders Portugal survived a scare against the UAE in the last group stage match of the tournament. Hosts Bahamas achieved CONCACAF's only competition win against a hapless Ecuador. The quarterfinals are now set for Thursday: Paraguay - Tahiti Switzerland - Iran Brazil - Portugal Italy - Senegal
According to the Beach Soccer Ranking 113 out of the 211 FIFA associations field a beach soccer team. New Zealand interestingly does not in the OFC. Did Australia just join because being ranked 17th in Asia is rather unflattering? The sport doesn't seem to be thriving all that much in the Americas outside of Brazil. CONCACAF hasn't made many headlines and CONMEBOL doesn't seem to have much depth. A bit strange considering all those years the competition was in Brazil. Any beach soccer experts around?
Brazil 4-3 Portugal Tahiti 6-4 Paraguay Iran 4-3 Switzerland Italy 5-0 Senegal Semifinals Iran vs Tahiti Brazil vs Italy
I am angry that Croatia - country that is all about tourism and beaches - does not have beach soccer team nor it is played and no one cares. We are world #1 in beach handball, btw.
Couple of corrections. Stayed up until 2:30 am to watch the Switzerland-Iran match. Tough night to be a Swiss supporter. Less than a minute to go with the semis in sight and Iran gets the equalizer. Then control most of the extra time period only for Iran to get the winner. Oh well, Iran just experienced a heartbreaking loss themselves in a very exciting penalty shootout against Tahiti. Up next Italy-Brazil. If Italy upsets Brazil we are guaranteed a first-time winner.
Tahiti knock out Iran on probably the longest penalty shootout in beach soccer history. there are 3 penalties for each (unlike 5 for regular football) and it was tied 2-2 after that, then it went to sudden death and both teams combined missed something like 6 penalties before tahiti finally scored. its just frustrating because if Iran won, maybe a million people would be happy, but maybe 1000 people follow the tahitian beach soccer team. oh well, hopefully brazil wins the other game and we get our revenge on italy in the 3rd place match. in the group stages we played them and we were up 3-1 but then they scored 4 consecutive goals in 8 minutes in the 3rd (final) period of the match and ended up beating us by 1 goal. however, as it stands, italy/brazil has the advantage over us in our 3rd place match with them tomorrow because they will get more rest than us because their game is later today, and also we had to play extra time and underwent a mentally excruciating and demoralizing penalty shootout.
this is such a weird day. first the Iran-tahiti penalty shootout and now the italy-brazil match. brazil scored, then italy equalized 4 seconds later. then brazil scored, then italy scored 4 seconds later. both brazil goals were overhead kicks, and both italy goals were not. now it is tied 2-2 at the end of the first period.
Semi-finals Iran - Tahiti 1:1 / 2:3 PSO Italy - Brazil 4:8 Final: Tahiti - Brazil 3rd: Iran - Italy Will Brazil win their 14th (overall) title or will Tahiti claim the first FIFA title in all competitions for the OFC tonight?
i just dont see tahiti beating brazil. brazil seems to be one level higher. i think brazil will comfortably win. i think the Iran vs italy match 3rd place match will be more exciting because it is a rematch of the group stages which ended in dramatic fashion.
Agreed. Plus Brazil are playing with a chip on their shoulder after not having won in three consecutive tournaments.
Iran avenge their narrow group stage loss to italy (Iran was leading 3-1 then ended up losing by one goal) today by defeating italy 5-3 to clinch 3rd place. what is funny is that again today we were up 3-0 and nearly lost that lead. 2016 paralympics 5 a side: Iran 2nd in the world 2016 paralympics 7 a side: Iran 2nd in the world 2016 fifa futsal world cup: Iran 3rd in the world 2017 fifa beach world cup: Iran 3rd in the world it is safe to say that Iran is global footballing powerhouse overall; if it werent for structural barriers, our main football team would probably be top 10 in the world, as opposed to top 30 which it currently is.
brazil destroy tahiti 6-0 to win the tournament. interestingly, tahiti had more possessions and goal attempts, which means nothing in beach football apparently. final standings: 1. brazil (14th title) 2. tahiti (2nd time being 2nd) 3. Iran (best finish, asian record) 4. italy (4rth time being 4rth)
golden ball: 1. ahmadzadeh (Iran) 2. mauricinho (brazil) 3. datinha (brazil) golden boot: 1. gori (italy) 2. rodrigo (brazil) 3. ahmadzadeh (Iran) golden glove: hosseini (Iran) fair play award: brazil
Errr....I wouldn't draw any conclusions about the main senior team based on (very different) versions of the sport but congratulations on third place. The best ever finish for an Asian association.
while there is some noticeable digression in terms of beach football, i would hesitate to utilize terminology such as a "very different" version of football to describe futsal. the only practical difference is a smaller pitch, which means technique is prioritized over tactics and certain physical aspects, such as endurance and size (which is useful for some positions in the main version of football but is not necessary in futsal; although perhaps a case could be made for goalkeeper). there is also less emphasis on long passes and crosses of course. if you look at the top 20 teams in the futsal ranking, Iran, ukraine, kazakhstan, and thailand are the only real outliers in terms of being ranked significantly higher in futsal as compared to football (azerbaijan dont count because they basically bought a bunch of brazilians). all of these countries face structural barriers that affect football but not futsal. to be good at futsal, you just need a ball and a street. to be good at football, you need to have properly maintained pitches, good coaches, the need for professional domestic leagues and sports curriculum for children, and due to the popularity of the sport, politics and money are necessary for success. the only real example backing up the notion that futsal and football are very different is a case example of england/germany, who are insignificant in futsal even though they are traditional powerhouses in football. but this is because these teams have extreme playing styles: their success in football is heavily reliant on the few differences between futsal/football. england thrives on long passes/crosses, and germany thrives on tactics and team play. even though they won multiple world cups, germany produced very few football players who could succeed at futsal. they have traditionally relied on teamwork and tactics over individual brilliance, and even their individually brilliant players were brilliant in aspects that are only useful for football: their superstars were center forwards and center backs as opposed to technically brilliant attacking midfielders. even a country like italy, who owes their footballing success to defending , teamwork, tactics and defence, consistently had at least 1 player on their football team who would make it in futsal (baggio, totti, cassano, etc..).