# Beach Soccer World Championships

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.
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. 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.
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 | Final | Final | Third place play-off | Third place play-off | Third place play-off | No. of teams | Goals (match avg.) |
| # | Year | Location(s) | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | No. of teams | Goals (match avg.) |
| 1 | 1995 Details | Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazil | 8–1 | United States | England | 7–6 | Italy | 8 | 149 (9.3) |
| 2 | 1996 Details | Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazil | 3–0 | Uruguay | Italy | 4–3 | United States | 8 | 131 (8.2) |
| 3 | 1997 Details | Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazil | 5–2 | Uruguay | United States | 5–1 | Argentina | 8 | 144 (9.0) |
| 4 | 1998 Details | Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazil | 9–2 | France | Uruguay | 6–3 | Peru | 10 | 218 (9.1) |
| 5 | 1999 Details | 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 | Marina da Glória, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazil | 6–2 | Peru | Spain | 6–3 | Japan | 12 | 172 (8.6) |
| 7 | 2001 Details | Costa do Sauípe, Mata de São João, Brazil | Portugal | 9–3 | France | Argentina | 4–2 | Brazil | 12 | 144 (7.2) |
| 8 | 2002 Details | Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil; Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil | Brazil | 6–5 | Portugal | Uruguay | 5–3 | Thailand | 8 | 145 (9.1) |
| 9 | 2003 Details | Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazil | 8–2 | Spain | Portugal | 7–4 | France | 8 | 150 (9.4) |
| 10 | 2004 Details | 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 |
| 10 | Italy | 1995 | 2004 | Third place |
| 10 | Uruguay | 1995 | 2004 | Runners-up |
| 9 | United States | 1995 | 2004 | Runners-up |
| 8 | Argentina | 1995 | 2004 | Third place |
| 8 | France | 1997 | 2004 | Runners-up |
| 8 | Portugal | 1997 | 2004 | Champions |
| 7 | Spain | 1998 | 2004 | Runners-up |
| 5 | Peru | 1998 | 2004 | Runners-up |
| 4 | Germany | 1995 | 2004 | Round 1 |
| 4 | Japan | 1997 | 2003 | Fourth place |
| 2 | Canada | 1996 | 1999 | QFs |
| 2 | Venezuela | 2000 | 2001 | QFs |
| 1 | England | 1995 | 1995 | Third place |
| 1 | Netherlands | 1995 | 1995 | Round 1 |
| 1 | Denmark | 1996 | 1996 | Round 1 |
| 1 | Russia | 1996 | 1996 | Round 1 |
| 1 | Chile | 1998 | 1998 | Round 1 |
| 1 | Malaysia | 1999 | 1999 | Round 1 |
| 1 | South Africa | 1999 | 1999 | Round 1 |
| 1 | Turkey | 2001 | 2001 | Round 1 |
| 1 | Thailand | 2002 | 2002 | Fourth place |
| 1 | Belgium | 2004 | 2004 | Round 1 |
| 1 | Switzerland | 2004 | 2004 | QFs |

## Overall team records

In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win in normal time, 2 points for a win in extra time or penalty shoot-out and 0 for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored. Only the points for the first 10 World Championships that occurred between 1995 and 2004 are counted here.
| Rank | Team | Part | Pld | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Brazil | 10 | 50 | 48 | 0 | 2 | 422 | 123 | +299 | 144 |
| 2 | Portugal | 8 | 35 | 23 | 1 | 11 | 177 | 119 | +58 | 71 |
| 3 | Uruguay | 10 | 39 | 16 | 4 | 19 | 155 | 155 | 0 | 56 |
| 4 | United States | 9 | 33 | 15 | 0 | 18 | 112 | 138 | −26 | 45 |
| 5 | Spain | 7 | 27 | 14 | 1 | 12 | 109 | 108 | +1 | 44 |
| 6 | Italy | 10 | 36 | 12 | 1 | 23 | 128 | 183 | −55 | 38 |
| 7 | France | 8 | 29 | 11 | 1 | 17 | 115 | 154 | −39 | 35 |
| 8 | Peru | 5 | 21 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 81 | 78 | +3 | 33 |
| 9 | Argentina | 8 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 82 | 122 | −40 | 30 |
| 10 | Japan | 4 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 40 | 78 | −38 | 11 |
| 11 | England | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 31 | −11 | 6 |
| 12 | Canada | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 22 | 37 | −15 | 6 |
| 13 | Thailand | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 21 | −8 | 5 |
| 14 | Venezuela | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 16 | −2 | 3 |
| 15 | Russia | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 3 |
| 16 | Denmark | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 16 | −6 | 3 |
| 17 | Chile | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 22 | −8 | 3 |
| 18 | Switzerland | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 17 | −8 | 3 |
| 19 | Germany | 4 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 22 | 56 | −34 | 3 |
| 20 | Turkey | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |
| 21 | Malaysia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 13 | −9 | 0 |
| 22 | South Africa | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 14 | −12 | 0 |
| 23 | Belgium | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 18 | −13 | 0 |
| 24 | Netherlands | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 30 | −23 | 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 |
| 1995 | Alessandro Altobelli Zico | 12 | Júnior Zico | Paulo Sérgio |
| 1996 | Alessandro Altobelli | 14 | Edinho | Paulo Sérgio |
| 1997 | Júnior Venancio Ramos | 11 | Júnior | Paulo Sérgio |
| 1998 | Júnior | 14 | Júnior | Paulo Sérgio |
| 1999 | Júnior Gustavo Matosas | 10 | Jorginho | Pedro Crespo |
| 2000 | Júnior | 13 | Júnior | Eichi Kato |
| 2001 | Alan | 10 | Hernâni | Pascal Olmeta |
| 2002 | Madjer Neném Nico | 9 | Neném | Vilard Normcharoen |
| 2003 | Neném | 15 | Amarelle | Robertinho |
| 2004 | Madjer | 12 | Jorginho | Roberto Valeiro |

## Top goalscorers

From the data available, 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 |
| 9 | Benjamin | Brazil | 30 |
| 11 | Cláudio Adão | Brazil | 28 |
| 12 | Edinho | Brazil | 25 |
| 12 | Juninho | Brazil | 25 |
| 14 | Zico | Brazil | 23 |
| 15 | Hernâni | Portugal | 22 |
| 15 | Magal | Brazil | 22 |
| 17 | Gabriel Silvera | Uruguay | 20 |
| 18 | Gustavo Matosas | Uruguay | 18 |
| 19 | Zak Ibsen | United States | 17 |
| 19 | Nico | Uruguay | 17 |
| 19 | Jorge Olaechea | Peru | 17 |
| 19 | Carlos Russo | Argentina | 17 |

## 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 %$^†$ |
| 2003 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 6,000 | 16 | 74,700 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 4,669 | 78% |
| 2004 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 10,000 | 20 | 81,900 | 500 | 10,000 | 4,095 | 41% |
* † – 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)