The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup – Europe qualifier is a beach soccer championship that takes place to determine the nations who will represent Europe at the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[1] It is contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of UEFA.
In 2006, FIFA made qualification to the World Cup mandatory (previously, nations were simply invited).[2] Originally, the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) doubled as Europe's qualification tournament;[3][4] in 2008, this separate championship was created as the European qualification route.[5] FIFA currently allocate Europe five berths at the World Cup[6] and hence the top five teams qualify to the World Cup finals.[see notes] Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2010; the World Cup then became biennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit.
Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) have organised the event since its inception. Europe's governing body for football, UEFA, only began involvement in 2019 – sending delegates and financial support.[7] Unlike the World Cup qualifiers for UEFA in football, it is a knockout tournament with a champion crowned. Its large scale and competitiveness are often noted, making it viewed as a major title to win.[8][9]
Spain are the most successful team with four titles. However, Portugal have secured qualification to the World Cup on the most occasions (seven).
Background
In 2006, FIFA declared that for teams to enter the World Cup, they now must qualify (previously, most teams entered by invitation).[2] Qualification tournaments were subsequently established in all continental zones, except for Europe.[10] For European teams, a qualification process had already been implemented for the previous handful of World Cups – the top placed teams of the most recent season of the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) earned qualification to the upcoming edition of the World Cup.[11] Thus, the EBSL continued to double as the qualifying route for European teams.[3][4]
In 2008, FIFA proclaimed that the next editions of the World Cup would take place in different countries.[12] Until that point, all World Cups had been held in Brazil during summertime of the Southern Hemisphere, months after the conclusion of that year's EBSL season. That year, the World Cup was held in Marseille, France, and during a different time of the year – in July.[12] The usual European qualification route, the EBSL, was not due to conclude until weeks after the World Cup had taken place.[5] This separate knockout tournament, dedicated purely to determining the teams qualifying to the World Cup, was organised instead; free to be placed anywhere in the calendar, it took place in the May.[5] It "made history", becoming the biggest international beach soccer event ever held at the time with 24 participants.[13] It has since returned in all future years as Europe's qualification tournament.[9]
Results
For all tournaments, the top four teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (except for 2009 and 2019, when the top five teams qualified).[9]
Key:
Appearances App / Won in normal time W = 3 points / Won in extra-time W+ = 2 points / Won on penalty shoot-out WP = 1 point / Lost L = 0 points / Points per gamePPG
Appearances & performance timeline
The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the UEFA qualifiers and how many appearances they each have made.
Legend
1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
5th – Fifth place (if qualified to World Cup; regular)
5th – Fifth place (if qualified to World Cup; as lucky losers)
R3 – Qualified to World Cup by winning Round 3 match (no further rounds took place)
R3 – Round 3 (quarter-finals or 2nd group stage)
R2 – Round 2 (round of 16)
R1 – Round 1 (group stage)
•• – Entered but withdrew
× – Did not enter
× – Did not enter (because already qualified to World Cup as hosts)
×× – Banned from entering
– Hosts
Apps – No. of appearances
‡.^ In some years, teams knocked-out at rounds 2 or 3 played no further matches (these results are marked as R2 or R3). In other years, classification matches were then played to determine all final placements.
The fifth placed team does not always qualify to the World Cup:
^ abcThe fifth placed team did not qualify to the World Cup because France (2008),[14] Italy (2010)[15] and Portugal (2014)[16] claimed the fifth European spot automatically as World Cup hosts. Italy took part in the 2010 qualifiers as FIFA had yet to confirm their automatic qualification at the time.[17] France and Portugal[18] did not take part in the respective 2008 and 2014 events in knowing qualification was already secured.
^The fifth placed team did not qualify to the World Cup in 2013. Tahiti had already qualified automatically for the World Cup as its host nation, occupying the sole OFC berth available. With the most berths, UEFA were therefore chosen by FIFA to give one of their slots to Oceania to allow an additional second team from the OFC to compete regionally and qualify to the World Cup.[19][20]
^The fifth placed team did not qualify to the World Cup in 2017. The Bahamas had already qualified automatically for the World Cup as its host nation, occupying one of the two CONCACAF berths available. With the most berths, UEFA were therefore chosen by FIFA to give one of their spots to North America to allow two teams from CONCACAF to compete regionally and qualify to the World Cup as normal.[21][22]
^ abcdAs the runners-up, Ukraine originally qualified for the World Cup in 2021. However, the Ukrainian Association of Football subsequently refused to sanction the participation of the team at the World Cup finals in Moscow.[24] It was reported that the decision was made as part of a wider sporting boycott of Russia by Ukrainian authorities due to ongoing tensions between the two states.[25] As the next best-placed team in the qualifiers in fifth place, Switzerland qualified post factum as lucky losers in order to replace Ukraine.[24] Originally, the fifth placed team did not qualify to the 2021 World Cup because Russia claimed the fifth European spot automatically as World Cup hosts; they did not take part in the 2021 event in knowing qualification was already secured.
^ abcdUkraine originally qualified for the World Cup in 2024. However, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine subsequently refused to sanction the participation of the team at the World Cup finals in protest at the Belarus national team being allowed to compete, whom it believed should be barred from entering due the country's role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[26] As the statistically next best team in the qualifiers,[27]Spain qualified post factum as lucky losers in order to replace Ukraine.[28] Originally, the fifth placed team did not qualify to the 2024 World Cup because the United Arab Emirates had already qualified automatically for the World Cup as its host nation, occupying one of the three AFC berths available. With the most berths, UEFA were therefore chosen by FIFA to give one of their spots to Asia to allow three teams from the AFC to compete regionally and qualify to the World Cup as normal.[29]
^The fifth placed team did not qualify to the World Cup in 2025. Seychelles had already qualified automatically for the World Cup as its host nation, occupying one of the two CAF berths available. With the most berths, UEFA were therefore chosen by FIFA to give one of their slots to Africa to allow two teams from CAF to compete regionally and qualify to the World Cup as normal.[31]
The format of the 2023 event was different to all previous editions in that the tournament ended immediately following the matches that confirmed the four qualifiers to the World Cup (in prior years these matches would have been considered as the tournament's quarter-finals). There was therefore no semi-finals, final or third place match, and hence no champion of the event was crowned; all four qualifiers received a trophy recognising their achievement of qualification.[33]
In 2024, the final and third place play-off had to be cancelled due to inclement weather conditions. The placements were therefore determined by the points accrued by the teams during the tournament's second group stage.[34][35][36]
^ abcЕвролига и Кубок Мира разошлись... [The Euroleague and the World Cup have parted ways ...] (in Russian). beachsoccer.ru. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
1 No qualifiers took place; representatives were selected by the confederation. 2 CONCACAF and CONMEBOL held a joint championship for qualification. 3 Qualification was achieved through the Euro Beach Soccer League. (p) This indicates an additional play-off round, supplement to the main qualification event.