The 1999 Beach Soccer World Championships was the fifth 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.
Twelve teams (a record high at the time) took part for the first time, expanded for a second year running, from ten in
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 ...
. This championship also saw an African nation participate for the first time (and only time pre-
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
) making this the single pre-FIFA era world cup with the most continental representation, with all but Oceania represented by at least one nation competing in Rio.
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 ...
won their fifth title in a row by beating Portugal 5–2 in what was the Iberians' first final appearance.
Organisation
The number of teams competing this year was increased to twelve meaning a shift in organisation from previous years.
The twelve nations were split into four groups of three who played each other in a
round robin format. The top two teams then progressed to the quarter-finals. With the increase in nations in this edition, this saw a quarter final stage introduced to the Championships for the first time. From the aforementioned round 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 was represented for the first time (and only time before FIFA took control of the world cup). Asia had two nations competing for the first time.
Oceania was unrepresented, the only continent to be so.
African Zone (1):
*
1
Asian Zone (2):
*
*
1
European Zone (4):
*
*
*
*
North American Zone (2):
*
*
South American Zone (2):
*
*
Hosts:
*
(South America)
Notes:
:
1. Teams making their debut
Group stage
Group A
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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
Final
Winners
Awards
Final standings
Sources
RSSSF
{{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
1999 in beach soccer
1999 in Brazilian football