The 2004 Beach Soccer World Championships was the tenth and final edition 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 Brazi ...

'', the most prestigious competition in international

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was a ...

contested by men's national teams; the following year, the competition was replaced by the second iteration of a world cup in beach soccer, the better known ''

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 ...

''. It was organized by Brazilian sports agency Koch Tavares in cooperation with and under the supervision 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 ...

(BSWW), the sports governing body. The tournament took 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 ...

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 b ...

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 ...

, specifically at the purpose-built ''Copacabana Arena'' which had a capacity of 10,000. The main sponsor was

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

successfully defended their title by again beating

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") , ...

, in consecutive finals.

Organisation

The format was changed back to how the tournament was played between 1999 and 2001. This meant increasing the number of participants back up to twelve teams and splitting them up into four groups of three nations contested in a round robin format. The top two teams from each group progressed into the quarter finals from which point on the championship proceeded 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 the winner was crowned, with an additional third place deciding match.

Teams

Qualification

European teams gained qualification by finishing in the top four spots of the 2003

Euro Beach Soccer League The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer contested between European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in ...

. South American teams were hand-picked based on recent performances. The other entries received wild-card invites. Africa, Asia and Oceania were unrepresented.

Entrants

European Zone (7): * * * *¹ *^WC *^WC *^{1, WC} North American Zone (1): *^WC South American Zone (3): * * * Hosts: * (South America)

Draw

The teams were split into three pots in reflection of their similar circumstances. The draw to assign one nation from each pot into the four groups took place on January 29 in

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

and was conducted by BSWW.

Group stage

''Matches are listed as local time in

, ( UTC-3)''

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Group C

---- ----

Group D

---- ----

Knockout stage

March 3 and 5 were allocated as rest days.

Quarter finals

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

Semi-finals

----

Third place play-off

Final

Winners

Awards

Top goalscorers

;12 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. ...

;10 goals * Benjamin ;7 goals * Alan * Jorginho * Amarelle ;6 goals * Junior Negão ;5 goals * Buru * Neném * Fruzzetti ;4 goals * Belchior * Juninho * Nico ;3 goals * Eloy * David ;2 goals * Rodriguez * Meier * Bustillo * Nico * Galli * dos Santos * Cardoso * Ottavy * Samoun * Baumi * Petrasso * Belme * Martin * Victor * Camilo * Ricardo Loja * Cantona * Schirinzi * Sergio * Bruno * Hernani ;32 others scored 1 goal each

Final standings

References

Sources

RSSSFBSWWScorersAwards
{{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

2004 in beach soccer 2004 in Brazilian football