The 1998 Beach Soccer World Championships was the fourth edition of the ''
Beach Soccer World Championships'', the most prestigious competition in international
beach soccer contested by men's national teams until 2005, when the competition was then replaced by the second iteration of a
world cup in beach soccer, the better known ''
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup''.
It was organised by Brazilian sports agency Koch Tavares (one of the founding partners of
Beach Soccer Worldwide
Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of association football's derivative sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is know ...
).
The tournament continued to take place at
Copacabana Beach
Copacabana () is a ''bairro'' (neighbourhood) located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is most prominently known for its 4 km (2.5 miles) balneario beach, which is one of the most famous in the wor ...
in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, Brazil. For the first time, the number of teams competing was raised, from eight to ten. This change saw the longest group stage until the world cup became a 16-team event in
2006.
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 ...
, the three-time defending champions, successfully defended their title again to win their fourth World Championship by beating
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
9–2 in the final. This was the first time a European nation appeared in the final of the World Championship.
Organisation
The number of teams competing this year was increased to ten which meant necessary alterations to the past organisational structure of the tournament.
The nations were split into two groups, just as in previous editions, however this time since ten nations were competing instead of eight, both groups consisted of five nations rather than four. The countries competed in a
round robin
Round-robin may refer to:
Computing
* Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts
* Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology
* Round-robin schedu ...
format. The top two teams then progressed to the semi finals from which point onward the championship was played as a
knock-out tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
until a winner was crowned, with an additional match to determine third place.
Teams
Africa, Asia and Oceania were unrepresented.
European Zone (4):
*
1
*
*
*
North American Zone (1):
*
South American Zone (4):
*
*
1
*
1
*
Hosts:
* (South America)
Group stage
Group A
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Group B
Note:
*Portugal, the United States and Uruguay were tied on 6 points each and one win against each other in their head-to-head records
*Uruguay progressed based on having the best goal difference in the head-to-head results (URU +1, POR 0, USA –1)
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Knockout stage
Semi-finals
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Third place play-off
Final
Winners
Awards
Final standings
Sources
RSSSF
{{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
1998 in beach soccer
1998 in Brazilian football