# 2024 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The 2024 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the 12th edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the premier international beach soccer championship contested by men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. Overall, this was the 22nd edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the Beach Soccer World Championships which ran from 1995 to 2004 but which was not governed by FIFA; all world cups took place annually until 2009 when it then became a biennial event.
This edition was originally set to be the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup; at the FIFA Beach Soccer Workshop in November 2017, it was announced that the World Cup would continue to be held biennially in odd-numbered years for the period 2018–2024. The bidding process for said edition was subsequently opened by FIFA in October 2021, concluding with the selection of the United Arab Emirates as the hosts in December 2022. The tournament was initially set to take place from 16 to 26 November 2023. However, in June 2023, the tournament was postponed until 15 to 25 February 2024, in order to provide more time to the organisers to prepare for the event. As a consequence, its original 2023 branding was dropped, and it subsequently became referred to as the 2024 edition. It took place in Dubai, the second city to host in multiple times, having also hosted the 2009 edition.
Russia won the previous edition and should have therefore been the defending champions. However, all Russian national teams are currently banned indefinitely from competing in FIFA competitions, due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The tournament was won by Brazil, who claimed their sixth FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title, beating Italy in the final who finished as runners-up for a third time.

## Host selection

The original bidding schedule to determine the hosts was as follows:
* 6 October 2021 – FIFA opens the bidding process.
* 29 October 2021 – Deadline for national associations to declare interest of hosting to FIFA.
* 1 November 2021 – FIFA circulates documents detailing the application campaign and conditions of participation to the bidding associations to analyse.
* 26 November 2021 – Deadline for associations to reaffirm their bidding intentions by agreeing to the terms of the documents.
* 30 January 2022 – Deadline for nations to prepare and submit their complete bidding packages to be evaluated by FIFA.
* 31 March 2022 – Hosts announced by FIFA.
On 8 December 2021, FIFA revealed that five associations had affirmed their bidding intentions:
* Bahrain (Bahrain Football Association)
* Colombia (Colombian Football Federation)
* Seychelles (Seychelles Football Federation)
* Thailand (Football Association of Thailand)
* United Arab Emirates (United Arab Emirates Football Association)
On 14 February 2022, FIFA announced that three of the five associations had submitted bids through to the final stage of the process, with Colombia and Thailand withdrawing.
Confirmation of the awarding of hosting rights was due to be announced at the FIFA Council meeting in Doha, Qatar on 31 March 2022. However, no announcement was made; it was then due to be awarded at its meeting in Auckland, New Zealand on 22 October 2022, but it was announced at the meeting that the decision had been deferred again until a subsequent Council meeting. At the next Council meeting on 16 December 2022, in Doha, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates was awarded the hosting rights to the 2023 tournament.

## Qualification

A total of 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to the United Arab Emirates who qualified automatically as the host country, 15 other teams qualified from six separate continental competitions. The slot allocation was approved by the FIFA Council on 14 March 2023.
The process of qualification to the World Cup finals began in October 2022 and ended in August 2023.
Note: The appearance statistics below refer only to the FIFA era of world cups in beach soccer (since 2005); see this article for the inclusion of World Championships era stats (1995–2004).
| Confederation | Qualified through | Team | App | Last | Best performance |
| AFC (Asia; 3 teams + hosts) | Host nation | United Arab Emirates | 8th | 2021 | Group stage (seven times) |
| AFC (Asia; 3 teams + hosts) | 2023 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup | Iran | 8th | 2017 | Third place (2017) |
| AFC (Asia; 3 teams + hosts) | 2023 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup | Japan | 12th | 2021 | Runners-up (2021) |
| AFC (Asia; 3 teams + hosts) | 2023 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup | Oman | 5th | 2021 | Group stage (2011, 2015, 2019, 2021) |
| CAF (Africa; 2 teams) | 2022 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations | Egypt | 1st | n/a | Debut |
| CAF (Africa; 2 teams) | 2022 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations | Senegal | 9th | 2021 | Fourth place (2021) |
| CONCACAF (Central, North America and Caribbean; 2 teams) | 2023 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship | Mexico | 7th | 2019 | Runners-up (2007) |
| CONCACAF (Central, North America and Caribbean; 2 teams) | 2023 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship | United States | 7th | 2021 | Group stage (six times) |
| CONMEBOL (South America; 3 teams) | 2023 Copa América de Beach Soccer | Argentina | 9th | 2015 | Quarter-finals (2005, 2006, 2008, 2013) |
| CONMEBOL (South America; 3 teams) | 2023 Copa América de Beach Soccer | Brazil | 12th | 2021 | Champions (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017) |
| CONMEBOL (South America; 3 teams) | 2023 Copa América de Beach Soccer | Colombia | 1st | n/a | Debut |
| OFC (Oceania; 1 team) | 2023 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup | Tahiti | 7th | 2021 | Runners-up (2015, 2017) |
| UEFA (Europe; 4 teams) | 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) | Belarus | 3rd | 2021 | Group stage (2019, 2021) |
| UEFA (Europe; 4 teams) | 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) | Italy | 9th | 2019 | Runners-up (2008, 2019) |
| UEFA (Europe; 4 teams) | 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) | Portugal | 11th | 2021 | Champions (2015, 2019) |
| UEFA (Europe; 4 teams) | 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) | Spain | 9th | 2021 | Runners-up (2013) |
* ^ Note ESP: Ukraine originally qualified. However, on 27 September 2023, it was announced that the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine had refused to sanction the Ukrainian national team's participation in the tournament, in protest at the Belarus national team being allowed to compete, which it believes should be barred from entering due the country's role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine previously qualified for, but also boycotted the 2021 World Cup due to its venue being in Russia. They were replaced by Spain, who statistically finished in fifth place in the UEFA qualifiers and therefore enter as lucky losers.

## Venue

One venue was used in the city of Dubai. Despite being a coastal city with beaches, the stadium was located within the city's inland Design District; it was known by the name, Dubai Design District Stadium. It hosted all 32 matches of the competition, with a capacity to accommodate almost 3,500 spectators. The stadium was a temporary construction built purposely for the competition; its construction took just 25 days compared with typical lengths of 60 to 90 days.

## Draw

The draw to split the 16 teams into four groups of four took place at 18:30 GST (UTC+4) on 6 October 2023 at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library in Dubai. The drawing of lots was performed by Bakhit Saad and Christian Karembeu. It was conducted under the following procedure:
The teams were first divided into four pots of four based upon a ranking created by FIFA considering each team's performances at the World Cup over the past five editions (since 2013); the more recent the tournament, the more weight was given to those results. Bonus points were also awarded to the teams that won their confederation's championship during qualifying. Using this ranking, the best-performing teams were placed in Pot 1 (plus the hosts), the next best performers were placed in Pot 2 and so on. This resulted in the following composition pots:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| United Arab Emirates (Hosts; assigned to A1) (10) Brazil (Highest-ranked; assigned to D1) (1) Tahiti (18) Japan (6) | Italy (9) Senegal (7) Portugal (2) Iran (8) | Spain (4) Oman (17) United States (13) Belarus (22) | Argentina (14) Mexico (21) Colombia (11) Egypt (24) |
    The numbers in parentheses show the BSWW World Ranking of the teams at the time of the draw, out of 102 nations. The rankings are displayed for context only; it had no influence on the draw.
The draw started with Pot 1. As the hosts, the United Arab Emirates were automatically assigned to position A1. The highest-ranked team, Brazil, was automatically assigned to position D1. The other teams were then drawn – the first out was placed into Group B and the second, C. The teams from Pot 2 were then drawn – the first out was placed into Group A, second into B and so on. The same was repeated for Pots 3 and 4. The exact positions in the groups the teams were allocated to was determined by the drawing of lots from an auxiliary pot. Teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group.
The draw resulted in the following groups:
Group A :
| Group A PosTeam A1 United Arab Emirates A2 Egypt A3 United States A4 Italy | Group B PosTeam B1 Spain B2 Iran B3 Tahiti B4 Argentina | Group C PosTeam C1 Senegal C2 Belarus C3 Colombia C4 Japan | Group D PosTeam D1 Brazil D2 Oman D3 Portugal D4 Mexico |

## Match officials

From the International Referees List, FIFA chose 24 officials from 24 different countries to adjudicate matches at the World Cup, who were revealed on 14 December 2023.
At least one referee represented each of the six confederations of FIFA: four from the AFC, three from CAF, five from CONMEBOL, three from CONCACAF, one from the OFC, and eight from UEFA.
| Confederation | Referee | Age | Qualified |
| AFC | Abdulaziz Abdullah | 48 | 2009 |
| AFC | Turki Al Salehi | 47 | 2009 |
| AFC | Yuichi Hatano | 42 | 2015 |
| AFC | Ibrahim Alreesi | 39 | 2017 |
| CAF | Louis Siave | 35 | 2016 |
| CAF | Jelili Ogunmuyiwa | 44 | 2008 |
| CAF | Said Hachim | 44 | 2010 |
| CONCACAF | Juan Angeles | 44 | 2012 |
| CONCACAF | Gumercindo Batista | 44 | 2012 |
| CONCACAF | Gonzalo Carballo | 41 | 2014 |
| CONMEBOL | Jorge Gómez | 37 | 2016 |
| CONMEBOL | Lucas Estevão | 38 | 2017 |
| CONMEBOL | Aecio Fernández | 40 | 2018 |
| CONMEBOL | Mickie Palomino | 42 | 2012 |
| CONMEBOL | Mariano Romo | 42 | 2013 |
| Confederation | Referee | Age | Qualified |
| OFC | Aurélien Planchais-Godefroy | 42 | 2018 |
| UEFA |
| UEFA | Eduards Borisevics | 41 | 2008 |
| UEFA | Vladimir Tashkov | 36 | 2016 |
| UEFA | Francisco Bumedien | 32 | 2018 |
| UEFA | Sérgio Soares | 44 | 2014 |
| UEFA | Vitalij Gomolko | 34 | 2015 |
| UEFA | Ingilab Mammadov | 40 | 2012 |
| UEFA | Saverio Bottalico | 42 | 2017 |
| UEFA | Łukasz Ostrowski | 38 | 2012 |

## Squads

Each team had to name a preliminary squad of between 12 and 18 players. From the preliminary squad, the team had to name a final squad of 12 players (two of whom must have been goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad could be replaced by a player from the preliminary squad due to "serious" injury or illness up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match.
The final squad lists were revealed by FIFA on 7 February 2024.

## Group stage

The match schedule was published on the 6 October, following the draw.
In the group stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played (one period of three minutes) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner. Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

### Tiebreakers

The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows:
* points obtained in all group matches;
* goal difference in all group matches;
* number of goals scored in all group matches;
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:
* points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match): Yellow card: −1 points;Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;Direct red card: −4 points;Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
* drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
All times are local, GST (UTC+4).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Italy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | United Arab Emirates (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Egypt | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 2 | |
| 4 | United States | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iran | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 12 | +5 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Tahiti | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Argentina | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 14 | −3 | 3 | |
| 4 | Spain | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 16 | −3 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Belarus | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Senegal | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 15 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Colombia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 12 | −6 | 0 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Brazil | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Portugal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Oman | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Mexico | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 17 | −10 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

21 and 23 February are allocated as rest days.
| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 22 February | 22 February | | | |
| Iran | 2 | | | |
| Iran | 2 | 24 February | 24 February | | |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 24 February | 24 February | |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | Iran | 2 | |
| 22 February | 22 February | | Iran | 2 | |
| 22 February | 22 February | Brazil | 3 | |
| Brazil | 8 | Brazil | 3 | |
| Brazil | 8 | | | | 25 February | 25 February |
| Japan | 4 | | | | 25 February | 25 February |
| Japan | 4 | | | | Brazil | 6 |
| 22 February | 22 February | | | | | Brazil | 6 |
| 22 February | 22 February | | | | Italy | 4 |
| Italy | 5 | | | | Italy | 4 |
| Italy | 5 | 24 February | 24 February | | | |
| Tahiti | 2 | 24 February | 24 February | | | |
| Tahiti | 2 | Italy (p) | 3 (5) | | | |
| 22 February | 22 February | | Italy (p) | 3 (5) | | | |
| 22 February | 22 February | Belarus | 3 (4) | | Third place match | Third place match |
| Belarus (a.e.t.) | 4 | Belarus | 3 (4) | | Third place match | Third place match |
| Belarus (a.e.t.) | 4 | | | | 25 February | 25 February |
| Portugal | 3 | | | | 25 February | 25 February |
| Portugal | 3 | | | | Iran | 6 |
| | | | | | Belarus | 1 |

### Final
## Awards

After the final, FIFA presented individual awards to the three best players of the tournament, three top goalscorers, and to the best goalkeeper. In addition, a collective award was given to the team with the most points in the Fair Play ranking. Following this, the winners' trophy was awarded to Brazil's captain, Datinha, by FIFA President, Gianni Infantino.

### Winners

* 2024 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Champions
* Brazil Sixth title 15th world title

### Individual awards

The individual awards were all sponsored by Adidas, except for the FIFA Fair Play Award. The Golden, Silver and Bronze Balls were awarded by FIFA's Technical Study Group, which included current and former players Dejan Stankovic, Matteo Marrucci and Pascal Zuberbühler, and led by Arsene Wenger.
| Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
| Josep Junior | Mauricinho | Ihar Bryshtel |
| Golden Scorer | Silver Scorer | Bronze Scorer |
| Ihar Bryshtel (12 goals) | Léo Martins (7 goals; 4 assists) | Mohammadali Mokhtari (7 goals; 1 assist) |
| Golden Glove |||
| Tiago Bobô |||
| FIFA Fair Play Award |||
| Portugal |||

## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 223 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 6.97 goals per match.
12 goals
* Ihar Bryshtel
7 goals
* Léo Martins
* Mohammadali Mokhtari
6 goals
* Rodrigo
5 goals
* Alisson
* Edson Hulk
* Marco Giordani
* Takaaki Oba
4 goals
* Hossam Paulo
* Josep Junior
* Jordan Santos
* Chiky Ardil
* Roonui Tinirauarii
3 goals
* Lucas Medero
* Lucas Ponzetti
* Aleh Hapon
* Brendo
* Catarino
* Mauricinho
* Esleider Avila
* Reza Amiri
* Hamid Behzadpour
* Mohammad Masoumi
* Ali Mirshekari
* Tommaso Fazzini
* Khalid Al Oraimi
* Mandione Diagne
* Amar Samb
* Jose Arias
* Alessandro Canale
2 goals
* Emiliano Holmedilla
* Manuel Pomar
* Bruno Xavier
* Moustafa Sasa
* Seyed Mirjalili
* Movahed Mohammadpour
* Mohammad Moradi
* Luca Bertacca
* Gianmarco Genovali
* Emmanuele Zurlo
* Kosuke Matsuda
* Ozu Moreira
* Cristofher Castillo
* Ramón Maldonado
* Yahya Al Muraiki
* Abdullah Al Sauti
* Bê Martins
* Mamour Diagne
* Raoul Mendy
* David Ardil
* Kuman
* Tearii Labaste
* Heirauarii Salem
* Heimanu Taiarui
* Patrick Tepa
* Abdulla Abbas
* Ali Mohammad
1 goal
* Axel Rutterschmidt
* Mikhail Avgustov
* Mikita Chaikouski
* Artsemi Drozd
* Yauheni Novikau
* Yury Piatrouski
* Anatoliy Ryabko
* Filipe Silva
* Edu Lopez
* Juan Ossa
* Julio Pantoja
* Ahmed Elshahat
* Elhusseini Taha
* Moslem Mesigar
* Alessandro Miceli
* Alessandro Remedi
* Fabio Sciacca
* Takuya Akaguma
* Yusuke Kawai
* Naoya Matsuo
* Héctor Acevedo
* Diego Martínez
* Salomón Wbias
* Takahito Yamada
* Mandhar Al Araimi
* Abdulrahman Al Fazari
* Yaqdhan Al Hindasi
* Duarte Algarvio
* Bernardo Lopes
* André Lourênço
* Ninou Diatta
* Ousseynou Faye
* Papa Ndoye
* Soleiman Batis
* Dona
* Raimana Li Fung Kuee
* Tamatoa Tetauira
* Waleed Beshr
* Rashed Eid
* Austin Collier
* Andres Navas
* Conner Rezende
* Chris Toth
1 own goal
* Ivan Kanstantsinau (vs. Japan)
* Gianmarco Genovali (vs. Brazil)
* Teaonui Tehau (vs. Iran)
Source: BSWW