The 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Overall, this was the 12th 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

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, from 2–12 November 2006. The winners of the tournament were hosts

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 first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title and their tenth world title overall.

Major changes to format

After the 2005 World Cup, beach soccer continued to grow and spread worldwide at a fast rate. Therefore, FIFA established the ''FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers'', to try to allow more nations to play in the World Cup, as well as getting more national teams involved in the sport. FIFA also increased the number of participating teams in the World Cup from 12 to a record-high 16 teams. This also meant that nations would no longer be invited to play in the World Cup but would have to qualify. With the establishment of the qualifying rounds, FIFA decided to standardise each World Cup, meaning that from this World Cup onwards, each confederation would have the same number of teams participating in each World Cup and that the 16 teams would be split up into four groups of four teams, with the top two teams moving on to the quarter finals.

Qualifying rounds

African zone

African nations were allocated 2 berths at the World Cup. The championship took place between September 28 and September 30, 2006.

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 ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

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

Asian zone

Asian nations were allocated 3 berths at the World Cup. The championship took place between May 22 and May 26, 2006.

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and Japan were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup. Bahrain defeated Japan in the final to win the title.

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 ...

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

European zone

European nations were allocated 5 berths at the World Cup. Instead of having a specific tournament for World Cup qualification, qualification was achieved through the ''2006 Euro Beach Soccer League'' which took place earlier in the year. The nations who made it to the second stage of the Superfinal qualified to the World Cup being

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 ...

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 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

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 ...

. 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

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 ...

who beat Switzerland in the final.

North, Central American and Caribbean zone

North, Central American and Caribbean nations were allocated 2 berths at the World Cup. The championship took place between September 13 and September 17, 2006. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup. The United States defeated Canada in the final to win the title.

Oceanian zone

Oceanian nations were allocated 1 berth at the World Cup. The championship took place between August 31 and September 3, 2006. 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 capit ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

were the two finalists. The Solomon Islands defeated Vanuatu in the final to win the title and qualify for the World Cup.

South American zone

South American nations were allocated 3 berths at the World Cup. The championship took place between March 5 and March 12, 2006.

and

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 ...

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

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 ...

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. Argentina beat Venezuela to claim the third berth at the World Cup.

Teams

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

Venue

As with the 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 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, a ...

. All matches are listed as local time in

, ( UTC-3)

Group A

* Note: Japan, Poland and the USA were involved in a three-way tie. Therefore, their match results against Brazil were ignored. Each team won one game against another side, so this couldn't break the tie. The next criterion is goal difference. Japan had the best goal difference from its two matches against Poland and USA, and thus were ranked the top of the tie-breaker, taking the group runners-up position.
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Group B

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Group C

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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

;21 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. ...

;12 goals * Benjamin ;10 goals *

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

;9 goals * Júnior Negão ;8 goals * Alan ;7 goals * Boguslaw Saganowski * Didier Samoun * Jeremy Basquaise ;6 goals * Sipho Sibiya * Betinho ;5 goals * Amarelle * James Naka * Rashed Salem * Takeshi Kawaharazuka * Pampero ;4 goals * Raphael Xexeo * Mohammad Ahmadzadeh * Roberto Pasquali ;4 goals (cont.) * Santiago Hilaire * Bueno * Miguel * Sidney *

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 ...

* Gustavo ;3 goals * Abdulla Omar * Benyam Astorga * Ifeanyi Onigbo * Isiaka Olawale * Medrano Tamen * Mario Chimienti * Katsuhiro Yoshii * Masahito Toma * Naoyuki Kuroki * Belchior * Fabian * Laurent Castro * Marinho * Sebastien Perez * Stéphane François ;2 goals * Marek Zuk * Alfonso * Bartholomew Ibenegbu * Brendon Taguinod * Etienne Ngiladjoe ;2 goals (cont.) * Faroogh Dara * Gabriel Agu * Henry Koto * Omo * Valery Bithe * Nico * Facundo Minici * Federico Andrade * Federico Hilaire *

Kyle Yamada Kyle Yamada (born April 12, 1983 in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian soccer player. Career Youth and college Yamada played four years of college soccer at Lethbridge College, and despite suffering a serious knee injury in his debut season, was n ...

* Kyriakos Selaidopoulos * Adnan Ebrahim * Andre * Coco * Hernani * Jairzinho Cardoso * Jean-Marc Edouard * Marc Libbra * Matias * Noel Sciortino * Ricar ;35 others scored 1 goal each

Final standings

External links

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006
, FIFA.com {{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, 2006