The 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the fourth 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 14th edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the ''

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 Braz ...

'' which ran from 1995–2004 but was not governed by FIFA. It took place in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, France, in the Plages du Prado from 17 to 27 July 2008. It was the first tournament to take place outside Brazil. The winners of the tournament were

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, who won their third consecutive FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title and their twelfth title overall.

Qualifying rounds

Africa

The qualifiers to determine the two African nations who would play in the World Cup took place in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

for the third year running between March 25 and March 30. Eight nations took part in the competition, all of whom participated in the 2007 Championship, which eventually saw

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

claim their first title, qualifying for the second successive World Cup and which saw

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

finish in second place, also qualifying for the second time.

Asia

The Asian qualifiers took place in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, for the third time, between May 6 and May 10. The hosts, the

qualified for the second time after beating

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the final of the championship, 4-3, for the second consecutive year.

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

beat

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the third place play off to claim the third berth at the World Cup for the third year in a row.

Europe

For the first time since the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers began in 2006, due to the large interest of European nations in beach soccer, UEFA held a tournament dedicated to World Cup qualification in

Benidorm Benidorm is a town and municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when its port was extended and the first hotels were built, though ...

, Spain, between, May 11 and May 18, instead of allowing European nations to qualify to the World Cup through the Euro Beach Soccer League. Hosts

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

won the championship, with neighbours

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

finishing second.

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

beat

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the third place play off, but regardless of the result, both teams qualified to the World Cup, along with the finalists.

North, Central American and Caribbean Zone

The North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone qualifiers took place between April 17 and April 19 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 Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

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 ...

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

South America

The South American qualifiers took place between April 23 and April 27, in the

Argentinean Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish language, Spanish (Grammatical gender, masculine) or (Grammatical gender, feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be resident ...

capital,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and hosts

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup. Brazil defeated Argentina in the final to win the title.

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

were knocked out in the semi finals and played each other in the third place play off. Uruguay beat Venezuela to claim the third berth at the World Cup.

Oceania

For the first and to date only time, no Oceanian qualifiers were held. The

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

nominated the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

as their representative in the World Cup, based on their results over the past two years, which showed that they were by far the strongest team in the confederation.

Hosts

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

qualified automatically as the hosts.

Teams

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

Players

Venue

A stadium on the Plage du Prado in southern

was used known as the '' Stade du Prado'' or the ''Stadium of the Beach'' in English. The stadium hosted all 32 matches.

Group stage

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 final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

s. The quarter finals, semi finals and the final itself was played in the form of a

knockout tournament A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking ...

. All matches are listed as local time (

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time ** B ...

)

Group A

* Note: France, Uruguay and Senegal were involved in a tie-break situation and therefore their matches against Iran were ignored and the nations were ranked by their goal difference in the matches against each other. Despite France having the worst overall goal difference, they had the best goal difference between the three teams involved in the tie-break and therefore finished in first place. Uruguay, with an equal number of goals scored and conceded, against France and Senegal finished second, and Senegal with a negative goal difference of -1, finished third. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group B

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group C

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group D

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

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

;13 goals *

Madjer João Victor Saraiva (born 22 January 1977), better known as Madjer, is a Portuguese retired beach soccer player. He played in the forward position, and has won numerous awards at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups for his goalscoring abilities ...

;11 goals * Amarelle ;10 goals * Belchior ;8 goals * James Naka * Pape Koukpaki ;7 goals * Alan * Jeremy Basquaise ;6 goals *

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

* Bruno * Ricar ;5 goals *

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Ma ...

* Paolo Palmacci * Didier Samoun *

Egor Shaykov Egor Mikhailovich Shaykov (russian: Егор Михайлович Шайков; born 23 June 1980) is a former Russian association football and beach soccer player who was active as forward. Shaykov started his career in association football, hi ...

* Simone Feudi * Roberto Pasquali * Federico Hilaire * Andre ;4 goals * Martin * Daniel * Facundo Minici * Nico ;3 goals * Gomis Mbengue *

Dmitry Shishin Dmitry Vladimirovich Shishin (russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Шишин; born 14 March 1986) is a Russian beach soccer player currently active as forward, playing for the Russia national beach soccer team and BSC Kristall. ...

* Fabian * Torres * Massimiliano Esposito * Ali Naderi * Bakhit Alabadla * Rami Al Mesaabi * Parrillo ;2 goals *

Ilya Leonov Ilya Yuryevich Leonov (russian: Илья Юрьевич Леонов; born 21 December 1979 in Moscow) is a retired Russian beach soccer and former futsal player. From 2010 to 2018, he played for Lokomotiv Moscow, where for a time he served bot ...

* Betinho * Júnior Negrão * Agustin Ruiz * Christopher Flores * Javi Alvarez * Gibson Hosea * Joan Etame * Mehdi Davoudi ;2 goals (cont.) * Moslem Mesigar * Omo * Ricardo Villalobos * Tomoya Uehara * Victor Diagne * Ibrahim Albalooshi * Tomas Hernandez *

Alexey Makarov Aleksey Sergeyevich Makarov (russian: Алексей Сергеевич Макаров; born 20 August 1987) is a Russian beach soccer player currently active as a forward. Career Makarov began his professional beach soccer team in the FC Str ...

* Cesar Leguizamon * Stéphane François * Beirao Sousa * Bilro * Diego Maradona Jr * Francesco Corosiniti * Giuseppe Condorelli * Sidney * Giuseppe Soria ;Own goals * Alireza Rahimi (for France ) * Gideon Omokirio (for Portugal ) * Ekwalla Eyoum (for the United Arab Emirates ) * Aime Yombi (for Russia ) * Katsuhiro Yoshii (for Brazil ) * Coco (for Portugal ) ;35 others scored 1 goal each

Final standings

References

External links

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseilles 2008
, FIFA.com
FIFA Technical Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

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 Champi ...

International association football competitions hosted by France 2008 in beach soccer