2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The official logo of the 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Tournament details
Host country	France
Dates	17 July – 27 July 2008
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Brazil (12th title)
Runners-up	Italy
Third place	Portugal
Fourth place	Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	258 (8.06 per match)
Attendance	176,500 (5,516 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Madjer (13 goals)
Best player	Amarelle
← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Previous editions before 2005 were not governed by FIFA and were held under the title Beach Soccer World Championships. Overall this was the fourteenth edition of the World Cup since it's establishment in 1995. It took place in Marseille, France, the first tournament to take place outside Brazil, from 17 July - 27 July 2008. The winners of the tournament were Brazil, who won their third consecutive FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title and their twelfth title overall.

Contents 1 Qualifying Rounds 1.1 Africa 1.2 Asia 1.3 Europe 1.4 North, Central American and Caribbean Zone 1.5 South America 1.6 Oceania 1.7 Hosts 2 Venue 3 Teams 4 Group stage 4.1 Group A 4.2 Group B 4.3 Group C 4.4 Group D 5 Knockout stage 5.1 Quarter finals 5.2 Semi finals 5.3 Third place play off 5.4 Final 6 Winners 7 Awards 8 Top scorers 9 Final standings 10 References

Qualifying Rounds

Africa

The qualifiers to determine the two African nations who would play in the World Cup took place in Durban, South Africa for the third year running between March 25 and March 30. Eight nations took part in the competition, all of whom participated in the 2007 Championship, which eventually saw Senegal claim their first title, qualifying for the second successive World Cup and which saw Cameroon finish in second place, also qualifying for the second time.

Asia

The Asian qualifiers took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the third time, between May 6 and May 10. The hosts, the United Arab Emirates qualified for the second time after beating Japan in the final of the championship, 4-3, for the second consecutive year. Iran beat China in the third place play off to claim the third berth at the World Cup for the third year in a row.

Europe

For the first time since the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers began in 2006, due to the large interest of European nations in beach soccer, UEFA held a tournament dedicated to World Cup qualification in Benidorm, Spain, between, May 11 and May 18, instead of allowing European nations to qualify to the World Cup through the Euro Beach Soccer League. Hosts Spain won the championship, with neighbours Portugal finishing second. Russia beat Italy in the third place play off, but regardless of the result, both teams qualified to the World Cup, along with the finalists.

North, Central American and Caribbean Zone

The North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone qualifiers took place between April 17 and April 19 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Mexico and El Salvador were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup; Mexico for the second time and El Salvador for the first. Mexico defeated El Salvador in the final to win their first title.

South America

The South American qualifiers took place between April 23 and April 27, in the Argentinean capital, Buenos Aires. Brazil and hosts Argentina were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup. Brazil defeated Argentina in the final to win the title. Uruguay and Venezuela were knocked out in the semi finals and played each other in the third place play off. Uruguay beat Venezuela to claim the third berth at the World Cup.

Oceania

For the first and to date only time, no Oceanian qualifiers were held. The Oceania Football Confederation nominated the Solomon Islands as their representative in the World Cup, based on their results over the past two years, which showed that they were by far the strongest team in the confederation.

Hosts

France qualified automatically as the hosts.

Venue

A stadium on the beaches of Marseille was used known as the Stade du Prado or the Stadium of the Beach in English. The stadium had a capacity of 7 000 spectators and hosted all 32 matches.

Teams

These are the teams that qualified to the World Cup:

Asian zone:  Iran  Japan  United Arab Emirates African zone:  Cameroon  Senegal European zone:  Italy  Portugal  Russia  Spain

North, Central American and Caribbean zone:  El Salvador  Mexico Oceanian zone:  Solomon Islands South American zone:  Argentina  Brazil  Uruguay Hosts:  France

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 finals. The quarter finals, semi finals and the final itself was played in the form of a knockout tournament.

All matches are listed as local time in Marsielle, (UTC+1)

Group A

Team	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	3	1	1	1	15	14	1	5
Uruguay	3	1	1	1	17	12	5	5
Senegal	3	1	1	1	16	14	2	5
Iran	3	0	0	3	8	16	-8	0

• Note: France, Uruguay and Senegal were involved in a tie-break situation and therefore their matches against Iran were ignored and the nations were ranked by their goal difference in the matches against each other. Despite France having the worst overall goal difference, they had the best goal difference between the three teams involved in the tie-break and therefore finished in first place. Uruguay, with an equal number of goals scored and conceded, against France and Senegal finished second, and Senegal with a negative goal difference of -1, finished third.

17 July 2008 16:15	Uruguay	6 – 1	Iran	Stade du Prado Referee: Juan José Lopez Lopez
	Ricar  2',  7',  21' Martinez  5' Parrillo  27' Fabian  30'	Report	19' Davoudi

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17 July 2008 19:15	France	5 – 5 (a.e.t) (1 – 2 Pens)	Senegal	Stade du Prado Referee: Istvan Meszaros
	Samoun  15',  35' Basquaise  20' Francois  27' Pérez  32'	Report	1',  31' Koukpaki  11' Mbengue  12' Dieng  16' Sylla
		Penalties
	Basquaise Francois	1 – 2	Mbengue Ndour

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19 July 2008 14:45	Senegal	7 – 8 (a.e.t)	Uruguay	Stade du Prado Attendance: 4 000 Referee: Eduards Borisevics
	Koukpaki  14',  15',  26',  38' Sarr  19' Mbengue  29' Diagne  30'	Report	3',  28' Martin  11' Parrillo  22' Miguel  26' Ricar  35',  37' Matias  37' Pampero

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19 July 2008 19:15	Iran	6 – 6 (a.e.t) (1 – 2 Pens)	France	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: George Postma
	Naderi  6',  36' Abdollahi  18' Mesigar  22',  24' Davoudi  31'	Report	9' (o.g.) Rahimi  10',  11',  13',  37' Basquaise  13' Ottavy
		Penalties
	Dara Davoudi	1 – 2	Francois Pérez

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21 July 2008 17:45	Senegal	4 – 1	Iran	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: Alberto Moreira
	Mbengue  8' Koukpaki  18',  33' Diagne  23'	Report	25' Naderi

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21 July 2008 17:45	France	4 – 3	Uruguay	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: Erick Chavarria
	Samoun  8',  10' Basquaise  19',  27'	Report	26' Ricar  33' Parrillo  35' Oli

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Group B

Team	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Portugal	3	2	1	0	26	10	16	8
Italy	3	2	0	1	15	10	5	6
Solomon Islands	3	1	0	2	14	23	-9	3
El Salvador	3	0	0	3	6	18	-12	0

17 July 2008 14:45	Italy	7 – 4	Solomon Islands	Stade du Prado Referee: Carlos Aguirregaray
	Palmacci  1' Feudi  2' Corosiniti  7',  24' Soria  11' Pasquali  16' Condorelli  16'	Report	2' Naka  14',  16' Hosea  23' Muri

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17 July 2008 17:45	Portugal	8 – 2	El Salvador	Stade du Prado Referee: Tasuku Onodera
	Alan  1' Madjer  13',  17' Hernani  14' Sousa  15' Torres  21' Belchior  32',  35'	Report	6' Ruiz  6' Blanco

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19 July 2008 16:15	Solomon Islands	4 – 13	Portugal	Stade du Prado Attendance: 5 200 Referee: Faisal Sallam
	Naka  13',  16',  27' Nee  31'	Report	2',  15',  16',  17',  24' Madjer  4',  4',  16',  29' Alan  4' (o.g.) Omokirio  7',  23',  33', Belchior

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19 July 2008 17:45	El Salvador	1 – 4	Italy	Stade du Prado Attendance: 6 000 Referee: Alberto Moreira
	Hernandez  26'	Report	5' Pasquali  17',  20' Palmacci  24' Feudi

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21 July 2008 14:45	Portugal	5 – 4 (a.e.t)	Italy	Stade du Prado Attendance: 5 000 Referee: Juan José Lopez Lopez
	Belchior  6',  9',  38' Alan  8' Madjer  32'	Report	18' Esposito  22' Diego Maradona Jr  24' Soria  28' Platania

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21 July 2008 16:15	El Salvador	3 – 6	Solomon Islands	Stade du Prado Attendance: 3 800 Referee: Zhiwei Geng
	Ruiz  13' Ramirez  24' ernandez  28'	Report	5',  13',  16',  23' Naka  28',  35' Omo

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Group C

Team	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	13	5	8	9
Russia	3	2	0	1	12	5	7	6
United Arab Emirates	3	1	0	2	12	14	-2	3
Cameroon	3	0	0	3	4	17	-13	0

18 July 2008 14:45	Russia	3 – 5	Argentina	Stade du Prado Attendance: 4 000 Referee: George Postma
	Leonov  7' Shaykov  26' Shishin  27'	Report	12' E.Hilaire  16',  30',  35' F.Hilaire  28' Minici

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18 July 2008 14:45	United Arab Emirates	10 – 4	Cameroon	Stade du Prado Attendance: 4 500 Referee: Erick Chavarria
	Alabadla  1',  17',  19' Almazam  18' Eyoum  19' (o.g.) Al Mesaabi  27',  32' K.Albalooshi  27' Albloushi  28' I.Albalooshi  28'	Report	1' Yombi  8',  18' Etame  20' Yopa

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20 July 2008 16:15	Argentina	5 – 2	United Arab Emirates	Stade du Prado Attendance: 4 500 Referee: Sylvain Palhies
	S.Hilaire  5' Leguizamon  20',  33' F.Hilaire  18',  29'	Report	10' Al Mesaabi  33' I.Albalooshi

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20 July 2008 17:45	Cameroon	0 – 4	Russia	Stade du Prado Attendance: 5 300 Referee: Fabio Polito
		Report	8' (o.g.) Yombi  11' Khmara  20' Makarov  35' Shakmelyan

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22 July 2008 14:45	United Arab Emirates	0 – 5	Russia	Stade du Prado Attendance: 3 000 Referee: Istvan Meszaros
		Report	6' Makarov  6',  26' Shaykov  23' Shishin  27' Gorchinskiy

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22 July 2008 16:15	Cameroon	0 – 3	Argentina	Stade du Prado Attendance: 3 800 Referee: Tasuku Onodera
		Report	1',  2',  34' Minici

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Group D

Team	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	18	4	14	9
Spain	3	2	0	1	10	5	5	6
Mexico	3	1	0	2	6	12	-6	3
Japan	3	0	0	3	5	18	-13	0

18 July 2008 16:15	Mexico	4 – 3	Japan	Stade du Prado Attendance: 4 000 Referee: Mohamed Morsi
	Santoyo  24' Villalobos  24',  30' Flores  28'	Report	1' Yoshii  24' Tabata  26' Uehara

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18 July 2008 19:15	Brazil	3 – 2	Spain	Stade du Prado Attendance: 6 500 Referee: Fabio Polito
	Buru  1',  30' Bruno  21'	Report	1',  5' Amarelle

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20 July 2008 14:45	Spain	2 – 1	Mexico	Stade du Prado Attendance: 4 000 Referee: Sergejus Slyva
	Amarelle  14' Antonio  25'	Report	3' Flores

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20 July 2008 19:15	Japan	1 – 8	Brazil	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: Erick Chavarria
	Makino  23'	Report	4',  17' Junior Negao  12' Buru  15' Betinho  16' Benjamin  23' Bruno  31' Daniel  34' (o.g.) Yoshii

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22 July 2008 17:45	Spain	6 – 1	Japan	Stade du Prado Attendance: 5 000 Referee: Carlos Aguirregaray
	Amarelle  15',  19',  26' C.Torres  15' Nico  20' Alvarez  33'	Report	16' Uehara

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22 July 2008 16:15	Brazil	7 – 1	Mexico	Stade du Prado Attendance: 6 000 Referee: George Postma
	Benjamin  1',  19',  33' Andre  7' Bruno  23' Bueno  29' Betinho  32'	Report	20' Alvarado

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	8 November 2007
	France	2
					10 November 2007
	Italy	5
					Italy (pens)	4 (1)
	8 November 2007
					Spain	4 (0)
	Argentina	0
									11 November 2007
	Spain	2
									Italy	3
	8 November 2007
									Brazil	5
	Portugal	6
					10 November 2007
	Uruguay	3
					Portugal	4			Third place
	8 November 2007
					Brazil	5
	Brazil	6							Spain	4
	Russia	4							Portugal	5
									11 November 2007

Quarter finals

24 July 2008 19:15	France	2 – 5	Italy	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: Alberto Moreira
	Samoun  22' Francois  32'	Report	1' Esposito  1',  10' Feudi  22' Condorelli  22' Palmacci

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24 July 2008 14:45	Portugal	6 – 3	Uruguay	Stade du Prado Attendance: 6 000 Referee: Juan José Lopez Lopez
	Belchior  7',  29' Sousa  10' Madjer  14' Bilro  25' Coco  28' (o.g.)	Report	14',  31' Fabian  23' Martin

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24 July 2008 16:15	Argentina	0 – 2	Spain	Stade du Prado Attendance: 6 500 Referee: Istvan Meszaros
		Report	1',  33' Nico

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24 July 2008 17:45	Brazil	6 – 4	Russia	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: Sylvain Palhies
	Buru  4' Bruno  10' Daniel  18',  27',  29' Benjamin  33'	Report	3',  30' Shaykov  4' Shishin  17' Leonov

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Semi finals

26 July 2008 19:00	Italy	4 – 4 (a.e.t) (1 – 0 Pens)	Spain	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: George Postma
	Esposito  4' Feudi  5' Pasquali  24',  34'	Report	2',  34' Amarelle  12' Alvarez  23' J.Torres
		Penalties
	Esposito	1 – 0	Amarelle

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26 July 2008 17:30	Portugal	4 – 5	Brazil	Stade du Prado Attendance: 6 000 Referee: Carlos Aguirregaray
	Madjer  12' Belchior  16' Torres  23' Alan  25'	Report	10',  24',  28' Andre  16' Benjamin  34' Bruno

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Third place play off

27 July 2008 17:30	Spain	4 – 5	Portugal	Stade du Prado Attendance: 6 500 Referee: Erick Chavarria
	Amarelle  7',  23',  25' Nico  34'	Report	2',  25',  27' Madjer  12' Bilro  29' Torres

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Final

27 July 2008 19:00	Italy	3 – 5	Brazil	Stade du Prado Attendance: 7 000 Referee: Istvan Meszaros
	Palmacci  29' Pasquali  33' Diego Maradona Jr  34'	Report	8',  14' Bruno  21',  23' Sydney  28' Andre

Winners

2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Winners
Brazil Third (12th overall) title

Awards

Golden Ball		Silver Ball		Bronze Ball
Amarelle		Benjamin		Belchior
Golden Shoe		Silver Shoe		Bronze Shoe
Madjer		Amarelle		Belchior
13 goals		11 goals		10 goals
Golden Glove
Roberto Valerio
FIFA Fair Play Award
Russia

Top scorers

13 goals Madjer 11 goals Amarelle 10 goals Belchior 8 goals James Naka Pape Koukpaki 7 goals Alan Bruno Jeremy Basquaise 6 goals Benjamin Ricar 5 goals Paolo Palmacci Didier Samoun Egor Shaykov Simone Feudi Roberto Pasquali Federico Hilaire Andre

4 goals Buru Martin Daniel Facundo Minici Nico 3 goals Gomis Mbengue Dmitry Shishin Fabian Torres Massimiliano Esposito Ali Naderi Bakhit Alabadla Rami Al Mesaabi Parrillo 2 goals Ilya Leonov Betinho Junior Negao Agustin Ruiz Christopher Flores Javi Alvarez Gibson Hosea Joan Etame Mehdi Davoudi

2 goals (cont.) Moslem Mesigar Omo Ricardo Villalobos Tomoya Uehara Victor Diagne Ibrahim Albalooshi Tomas Hernandez Alexey Makarov Cesar Leguizamon Stephane Francois Beirao Sousa Bilro Diego Maradona Jr Francesco Corosiniti Giuseppe Condorelli Sidney Giuseppe Soria Own goals Alireza Rahimi (for France ) Gideon Omokirio (for Portugal ) Ekwalla Eyoum (for the United Arab Emirates ) Aime Yombi (for Russia ) Katsuhiro Yoshii (for Brazil ) Coco (for Portugal ) 35 others scored 1 goal each

Final standings

Rank	Team
1	Brazil
2	Italy
3	Portugal
4	Spain
5	Argentina
6	Russia
7	Uruguay
8	France
9	Senegal
10	United Arab Emirates
11	Mexico
12	Solomon Islands
13	Iran
14	El Salvador
15	Japan
16	Cameroon

References

• 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Overview
• Fixture List
• Top Scorers List
• Awards

Beach Soccer World Championship and FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Beach Soccer World Championship 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2005 · Rio de Janeiro 2006 · Rio de Janeiro 2007 · Marseille 2008 · Dubai 2009 · Ravenna 2011 · Tahiti 2013 Finals Rio de Janeiro 2007 · Marseille 2008 · Dubai 2009 · Ravenna 2011  List of Finals

2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup finalists Champions Brazil Runners-up Italy Third place Portugal Fourth place Spain Eliminated in quarter-finals Argentina • France • Russia • Uruguay Eliminated in group stages Cameroon • El Salvador • Iran • Japan • Mexico • Senegal • Solomon Islands • United Arab Emirates