2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
The 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Overall, this was the 13th edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the Beach Soccer World Championships which ran from 1995 to 2004 but was not governed by FIFA. It took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2–11 November 2007.
The winners of the tournament were hosts Brazil, who won their second consecutive FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title and their eleventh title overall.
Qualifying rounds
African zone
The qualifiers to determine the two Africa nations who would play in the World Cup took place in Durban, South Africa for the second year running between July 3 and July 8. Eight nations took part in the competition, an increase on the six teams that participated in the 2006 Championship, which eventually saw Nigeria claim their first title, qualifying for the second successive World Cup and which saw Senegal finish in second place, qualifying for the first time.
Asian zone
The Asian qualifiers took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the second time, between August 14 and August 18. The hosts, the United Arab Emirates qualified for the first time after beating Japan in the final of the championship, 4–3. Iran beat Bahrain in the third place play off to claim the third berth at the World Cup for the second year in a row.
European zone
For the second year running, European nations qualified through being successful in the 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League. The nations who made it to the second stage of the Superfinal qualified to the World Cup being Portugal, France, Russia and Spain. To decide who would claim the fifth berth, the defeated nations in the competition came back to play in a straight knockout tournament, with the winner progressing to the World Cup. The nation which won the tournament was Italy who beat Switzerland in the final.
North, Central American, Caribbean and South American zone
Due to the lack of interest from South American nations in the World Cup, CONMEBOL paired up with CONCACAF to hold the second joint Beach Soccer Championship, following 2005. Seven nations took part in the championship, three from South America and four from North America which took place between August 9 and August 12 in Acapulco, Mexico. The tournament saw the United States claim victory, after beating Uruguay 4–3 in the final. Argentina beat Mexico in the third place play off. Therefore, all four national teams mentioned qualified for the World Cup.
Oceanian zone
The qualifiers to decide the one nation from Oceania that would be competing in the World Cup took place in Auckland, New Zealand, between August 31 and September 3. Despite Vanuatu dominating in the group stage, they lost in the final to the Solomon Islands, who claimed their second title and qualification for a second year in a row.
Hosts
Brazil qualified automatically as the hosts.
Teams
These are the teams that qualified to the World Cup:
Asian zone:
(first appearance)
African zone:
(first appearance)
European zone:
North, Central American and Caribbean zone:
(first appearance)
Oceanian zone:
South American zone:
Hosts:
Players
Venue
As with the two previous FIFA editions of the World Cup held in Rio, the tournament once again took place at the Copacabana Beach Soccer Arena.
Group stage
The 16 teams were split into 4 groups of 4 teams. Each team played the other 3 teams in its group in a round-robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the quarter finals. The quarter finals, semi finals and the final itself was played in the form of a knockout tournament.
All matches are listed as local time in Rio de Janeiro, (UTC-3)
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
Quarter finals
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Winners
Awards
Top scorers
10 goals
Buru
9 goals
Morgan Plata
8 goals
Bruno
Madjer
7 goals
Ricardo Villalobos
Jeremy Basquaise
Pape Koukpaki
Ricar
6 goals
Alan
Andre
Roberto Pasquali
5 goals
Sidney
4 goals
Amarelle
Didier Samoun
Júnior Negrão
Stéphane François
4 goals (cont.)
James Naka
Haidar Bashir
Javi Alvarez
Mario Chimienti
Shusei Yamauchi
Gomis Mbengue
Daniel
3 goals
Oscar Gonzales
Bakhit Alabadla
Hamed Ghorbanpour
Mohammad Ahmadzadeh
Nico
Joshua Nolz
Isiaka Olawale
Betinho
Dmitry Shishin
Benyam Astorga
Ilya Leonov
Paolo Palmacci
Moslem Mesigar
Bilro
Ogbonnaya Okemmiri
Uga Okpara
3 goals (cont.)
Javier Torres
Pampero
Parrillo
2 goals
Sebastien Perez
Benjamin
Damiano Maiorano
Zak Ibsen
Idoko Ibrahim
Federico Hilaire
Ali Aligoli
Facundo Minici
Gustavo Casado
Jevin Albuquerque
Qambar Sadeqi
Cristian Torres
Malick Dieng
Suleiman Usman
Miguel Beiro
Gustavo Rosales
Matias
40 others scored 1 goal each
Final standings
References
External links
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2007 , FIFA.com
2007
2007
Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, 2007
FIFa