1995 Beach Soccer World Championships
| I Mundial de futebol de areia | |
|---|---|
| Error creating thumbnail: File missing Official logo | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Brazil |
| Dates | January 24–29 |
| Teams | 8 (from 3 confederations) |
| Venue | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | File:Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil (1st title) |
| Runners-up | File:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Third place | File:Flag of England.svg England |
| Fourth place | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 149 (9.31 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Brazil Zico Italy Altobelli (12 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Brazil Zico Brazil Júnior |
| Best goalkeeper | Brazil Paulo Sérgio |
1996 → | |
The 1995 Beach Soccer World Championships was the first edition of the Beach Soccer World Championships, the most prestigious competition in international beach soccer 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.[1] It was organised by Brazilian sports agency Koch Tavares (one of the founding partners of Beach Soccer Worldwide).
The tournament took place at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The hosts and heavy favourites[2][3] Brazil won the tournament by beating the United States 8–1 in the final, coming from behind to claim their first world title.
The tournament was immediately deemed a success, leading to the instant scheduling of a second World Cup the following year.[4]
The event was notable for featuring many high-profile ex-association footballers, fuelling its popularity, including the likes of the Brazilians Zico, Júnior and Cláudio Adão, Italian 1982 World Cup winners Alessandro Altobelli and Claudio Gentile, Franco Causio, England's Gary Stevens and Luther Blissett, and brothers René and Willy van de Kerkhof of the Netherlands' 1978 World Cup runners-up squad.[4]
Background
[edit | edit source]In 1994, Koch Tavares organised the first international beach soccer competition in Brazil, the Mundialito de beach soccer, a small 4-team event, in view of understanding how commercially successful beach soccer could be in the region.[5] It featured Brazil, Argentina, Italy and the United States and was dubbed an "unofficial World Cup". The Mundialito was deemed a huge success, which gave Koch Tavares the incentive to organise a fully-fledged international competition.[6] This conception materialised a year later in 1995 as this, the maiden Beach Soccer World Championships – a larger and longer eight team event compared to the Mundialito.
Organisation
[edit | edit source]Format
The following format was decided upon by the organisers for the maiden edition of the championships: the eight participating nations competed in two groups of four teams in a round robin format. The top two teams progressed straight to the semi-finals from which point on the championship was played as a knock-out tournament until a winner was crowned with an additional match to determine third place.
Miscellaneous
The launch of the tournament took place from 12:30 onwards on January 18 at the Rio Internacional Hotel which involved the press and guests attending to see the opening presentation of the World Championships as well as explanations of the rules of the newly founded sport and the tournament's schedule.[7] Furthermore, the Brazilian team was also revealed to the press and engaged in interviews.[8]
The presence of Zico as part of the Brazilian squad, who made over 70 appearances for the Brazilian national association football team, gained considerable attention in the local press prior to the start of the championship.[7][8][9] Zico revealed at the launch he accepted an invitation from his friend and Brazilian team captain, Júnior, to play at the event, despite claiming to be "out of shape"[8] now aged 41, having retired from football a year earlier.
Following the launch, official training for the World Championships began the next day on January 19 on pitches external to the beach arena, in front of Copacabana Palace,[9] concluding with training sessions inside the arena on January 23.[10]
The draw to split the eight teams into Groups A and B was conducted on January 21 at the Rio Internacional Hotel. Brazil and Argentina were allocated as heads of the two respective groups, with the other six teams then drawn to accompany them.[11]
The Championships were part of the 1st Olympic Summer Festival (Festival Olímpico de Verão),[2] taking place in the Copacabana beach arena with a capacity of 12,000.[5] Entry to all games was free of charge for fans.[11]
In total, US$1 million (1.6 million in 2017) was invested into the organisation of the tournament, including payment for the players who participated.[4]
Teams
[edit | edit source]There was no qualification process for the first Beach Soccer World Championships; nations were simply invited to play. However, such invites were not random – specific nations were summoned.
Koch Tavares, the tournament organisers, decided that as the first World Cup of beach soccer, since the sport is a derivative of association football, it would be fitting for the six winners of the FIFA World Cup of football throughout history (as of 1995) to field a team in Rio (being hosts Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Uruguay, England and Germany) and as such the aforementioned nations were invited to play, all of which accepted the opportunity.[6]
To make up the numbers, the Netherlands and the United States, despite having never won a FIFA World Cup title, were also invited as "guests".[7]
Africa, Asia and Oceania were unrepresented.
|
European Zone (4):
North American Zone (1): |
South American Zone (2): Hosts:
|
Group stage
[edit | edit source]Group A
[edit | edit source]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | File:Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 8 | +23 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 6 | |
| 3 | File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Uruguay | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 30 | –23 | 0 |
Group B
[edit | edit source]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | File:Flag of the United States.svg United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | File:Flag of England.svg England | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 12 | –1 | 3 | |
| 3 | File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 12 | –4 | 3 | |
| 4 | File:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | –2 | 3 |
- Argentina, England and Germany were tied on 3 points each and one win against each other and the same goal difference (0) in their head-to-head records.
- The nations were then ranked based on goals scored in the matches between the three in the head-to-head results (ENG 9, GER 7, ARG 3).
Knockout stage
[edit | edit source]January 27 was allocated as a rest day.
Semi-finals
[edit | edit source]Third place play-off
[edit | edit source]| England File:Flag of England.svg | 7–6 | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy |
|---|---|---|
| Osman File:Soccerball shade.svg 14' Blissett File:Soccerball shade.svg 20', 34', 36' Cunningham File:Soccerball shade.svg 25', 36' (pen.) Stevens File:Soccerball shade.svg 35' |
Report | File:Soccerball shade.svg 6' Causio File:Soccerball shade.svg 8' (pen.), 9' (pen.), 31' Altobelli File:Soccerball shade.svg 14', 26' Soldá |
Final
[edit | edit source]Winners
[edit | edit source]| 1995 Beach Soccer World Championships champions |
|---|
| File:Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil First title |
Awards
[edit | edit source]| Top scorers | |
|---|---|
| Brazil Zico | Italy Alessandro Altobelli |
| 12 goals | |
| Best players | |
| Brazil Júnior | Brazil Zico |
| Best goalkeeper | |
| Brazil Paulo Sérgio | |
Final standings
[edit | edit source]| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | File:Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 11 | +41 | 15 | Champions |
| 2 | B | File:Flag of the United States.svg United States | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 15 | +1 | 12 | Runners-up |
| 3 | B | File:Flag of England.svg England | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 31 | −11 | 6 | Third place |
| 4 | A | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 26 | −2 | 6 | Fourth place |
| 5 | A | File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 6 | B | File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Uruguay | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 3 | |
| 7 | B | File:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 | |
| 8 | A | File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 30 | −23 | 0 |
References
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- ^ a b (Note that other articles dated before the 21st claim the draw was to take place at the beach soccer arena on Copacabana beach, [1][2] however this article referenced, dated after the draw, suggests an unexplained decision to change location of the draw in the meantime, and that it happened at the Rio Internacional Hotel.)Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- RSSSF
- Roonba
- Video Highlights of the Final, YouTube.com