The 2016 Copa América of Beach Soccer (known natively in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

as the ''Copa América de Futbol Playa'') was the first edition of the

Copa América of Beach Soccer The Copa América of Beach Soccer (named natively in Spanish language, Spanish as the ''Copa América de Fútbol Playa'') is a wikt:Special:Search/biennial, biennial international beach soccer tournament contested between the senior men's national ...

, the premier 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 ...

competition in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, contested between the men's national teams of the members of CONMEBOL. The competition was organised by

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

; other beach soccer exhibition events held under the ''Copa América'' title took place during 1994–99, 2003 and 2012–14, however this was the first edition to be officially organised by the governing body for South American football who also organise the other official Copa América events in

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

. The tournament was hosted by

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 ...

in the city of

Santos Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...

between 13 and 18 December.

beat

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

12–2 in the final to claim the inaugural crown.

Teams

Teams representing all 10 members of CONMEBOL took part. * * * * * * * * * *

Venue

One venue was used in the city of Santos, Brazil. *An arena built on the ''Praia do Gonzaga'' (Gonzaga beach) hosted all the matches.

Referees

Fourteen officials were appointed by CONMEBOL on 17 November, instructed to arrive in Santos by 11 December. * Mariano Romo * Jose Mendoza * Ivo De Moraes * Renato De Carlos * Carlos Rumiano * Juan Carlos Amaya * Fabricio Quintero * Jose Cortez * Jorge Luis Martinez * Mike Palomino * Alex Valdiviezo * Pablo Cadenasso * Carlos Aguirregaray * Jose Gregorio Misel

Draw

The draw to split the ten teams into two groups of five took place on 26 November in

Luque Luque () is a city in Central Department of Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding. It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the Paraguayan War ...

at the ''Auditorio de la Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol''. The teams were seeded based on their final ranking in the most recent previous CONMEBOL beach soccer tournament, the

2015 South American Beach Soccer Championship The 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CONMEBOL qualifier, also commonly known as the ''2015 South American Beach Soccer Championship'', was the sixth Beach Soccer World Cup qualification championship for South America, held from April 19–26 at Pl ...

. Initially, the top two seeds were automatically assigned to the groups: *to Group A: as the top seeds, *to Group B: as the second seeds, The remaining eight teams were split into four pots of two based on their seeding, in order from the highest seeds placed in Pot 1, down to the lowest seeds placed in Pot 4. From each pot, one team was drawn into Group A and the other team was drawn into Group B.

Group stage

Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top team of each group, advance to the final. The teams finishing in second through fifth proceed to play in consolation matches against the teams finishing in the same position in the other group to determine their final rank. All times are local, BRST ( UTC−2).

Group A

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Group B

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Final stage

Ninth place play-off

Seventh place play-off

Fifth place play-off

Third place play-off

Final

Awards

Winners trophy

Individual awards

Final standings

Source
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References

External links

Copa América de fútbol playa Brasil 2016
at CONMEBOL (in Spanish)
Copa America Fútbol Playa 2016
at Beach Soccer Worldwide (archived)
Copa América 2016
at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian) {{International beach soccer

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Beach soccer competitions in Brazil

2016 in Brazilian football 2016 in beach soccer December 2016 sports events in South America 2016 in South American football