The 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the fifth edition of the

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the ''Beach Soccer World Champions ...

, governed by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. Overall, this was the 15th 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 Dubai, the United Arab Emirates between 16 November and 22 November 2009. It was the second tournament to take place outside Brazil, first to be played in Asia, and the last tournament to take place on an annual basis. The winners of the tournament were Brazil, who won their fourth consecutive FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title and their thirteenth title overall.

Qualifying rounds

African Zone

The qualifiers to determine the two African nations who would play in the World Cup took place in Durban, South Africa for the fourth year running between 1 July and 5 July. Nine nations took part in the competition, which eventually saw Nigeria claim their second title, qualifying for the first time since 2007, with the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

finishing in second place, qualifying for the first time.

Asian Zone

The Asian qualifiers were held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, from 7 to 11 November. With only seven teams attending the qualifiers, the United Arab Emirates stepped in as the eighth side to even the two groups in the group stage. Japan qualified for the fourth time after beating Bahrain in the final of the championship, who qualified for their second World Cup.

European Zone

UEFA held the second European tournament dedicated to World Cup qualification in Castellón, Spain, between, 7 June and 14 June. Hosts Spain won the championship, with Russia finishing second.

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

beat Portugal in the third place play off, but regardless of the result, both teams qualified to the World Cup, along with the finalists. Italy beat France in the fifth place play off to qualify as the fifth European nation.

North, Central American and Caribbean Zone

The North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone qualifiers took place between 17 June and 21 June, after being postponed in May due to the

2009 swine flu pandemic The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1 influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, is the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918–1920 Span ...

, in

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadala ...

, Mexico, for the second year running.

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup; El Salvador for the second time and Costa Rica for the first. El Salvador defeated Costa Rica in the final to win their first title.

Oceanian Zone

The qualifiers to decide the one nation from Oceania that would be competing in the World Cup took place in Moorea, Tahiti, between 27 July and 31 July. Despite Vanuatu winning the group stage, they lost in the final to the Solomon Islands, who claimed their third title and qualification for a fourth year in a row.

South American Zone

The South American qualifiers took place between 11 March and 15 March, in the Uruguayan capital,

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. Brazil and hosts Uruguay were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup. Brazil defeated Uruguay in the final to win the title. Argentina and Ecuador were knocked out in the semi finals and played each other in the third place play off. Argentina beat Ecuador to claim the third berth at the World Cup.

Host

United Arab Emirates qualified automatically as the hosts.

Teams

These are the teams that qualified for the World Cup: Asian zone: * * * (hosts) African zone: * (first appearance) * European zone: * * * * * North, Central American and Caribbean zone: * (first appearance) * Oceanian zone: * South American zone: * * *

Players

Venues

Two venues were used in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates at Jumeirah Beach during the World Cup with matches split between them as follows.

Groups

The 16 teams present at the finals in Brazil 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 Dubai, ( UTC+4)

Group A

* Uruguay and Portugal are ranked based on their head-to-head result.
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Group B

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Group C

* Italy and Argentina are ranked based on their head-to-head result.
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Group D

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Knockout stage

Quarter finals

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Semi-finals

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Third Place Play-off

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Final

Winners

Awards

Top scorers

Final standings

References

External links

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009
, FIFA.com
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009
, Beach Soccer Worldwide
FIFA Technical Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup 2009

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Beach 2009 in beach soccer