2003 Beach Soccer World Championship
| IX Beach Soccer World Championships 2003 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Brazil |
| Dates | 16 – 23 February |
| Teams | 8 (from 4 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Brazil (8th title) |
| Runners-up |
 Spain |
| Third place |
 Portugal |
| Fourth place |
 France |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 150 (9.38 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Neném (15 goals) |
| Best player |
Amarelle |
| Best goalkeeper |
Robertinho |
The 2003 Beach Soccer World Championship was the ninth edition of the Beach Soccer World Championships, the most prestigious competition in international beach soccer contested by men's national teams, organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide, which ultimately came under the control of FIFA in 2005 and then rebranded as the better known FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
For the first time since 2000, the tournament returned to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, seeing Brazil win their eighth title by beating first time finalists Spain.
Organisation
As like in the previous year, eight teams competed in two groups of four teams, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the semi-finals.
Teams
Qualification
European teams gained qualification by finishing in the top three spots of the 2002 Euro Beach Soccer League. North and South American qualification was based on performances over recent times in a series of events in the Americas.[1] The other entries received wild-cards.
Africa and Oceania were unrepresented.
Entrants
This remains the only year when no new nations made their debut at the World Cup.
|
Asian Zone (1): European Zone (4): |
North American Zone (1): South American Zone (1): Hosts:
|
Notes:
- WC. Wild-card entries.
Group stage
Group A
| Team | Pld | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 6 | 20 | 9 |
| Spain |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 6 |
 Italy |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 19 | -8 | 3 |
 United States |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 26 | -18 | 0 |
Group B
| Team | Pld | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 6 |
| Portugal |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 6 |
 Uruguay |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 6 |
 Japan |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 14 | -10 | 0 |
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
Winners
| 2003 Beach Soccer World Championship |
|---|
Brazil Eighth title |
Awards
| Top scorer |
|---|
| Neném |
| 15 goals |
| Best player |
| Amarelle |
| Best goalkeeper |
| Robertinho |
Final standings
| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil |
| 2 | Spain |
| 3 | Portugal |
| 4 | France |
| 5 | Uruguay |
| 6 | Italy |
| 7 | Japan |
| 8 | United States |
References
Sources
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