The 1998 Beach Soccer World Championships was the fourth edition of the ''
Beach Soccer World Championships'', the most prestigious competition in international
beach soccer
Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each.
Association football has long been played informally on ...
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
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 Championshi ...
''.
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 the association football-based sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is known ...
).
The tournament continued to take place at
Copacabana Beach
Copacabana ( , , ) is a Brazilian (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 ...
in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, 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
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
.
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, 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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
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 format. The top two teams then progressed to the semi-finals from which point onward the championship was played as a
knock-out tournament 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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
1998 in beach soccer
1998 in Brazilian football