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 1995–2004 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: African zone: European zone: North, Central American and Caribbean zone: Oceanian zone: South American zone: Hosts: 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)