AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup
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| Organiser(s) | AFC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Region | Asia |
| Teams | ~16 |
| Qualifier for | FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup |
| Current champions | File:Flag of Iran.svg Iran (4th title) |
| Most championships | File:Flag of Iran.svg Iran (4 titles) |
| Website | afc.com |
| File:Soccerball current event.svg 2027 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup | |
The AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Asia, contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the sport's version of the better known AFC Asian Cup in association football.
The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions; the tournament also acts as the qualification route for Asian nations to the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[1] Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2009; the World Cup then became biennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit. Japan are the most successful nation with three titles and having also qualified for the World Cup on every occasion
History
[edit | edit source]The championship was established in 2006 by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW)[2] under the title, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup AFC qualifier;[3][4]after FIFA made it a requirement for all confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national team(s) in their region who would proceed to represent their continent in the upcoming World Cup (previously, nations were simply invited to play, without having to earn their place).[5] BSWW organised the first six editions. During this time it also became informally known by the misnomer, the AFC Beach Soccer Championship.[6]
In 2015, the Asia's governing body for football, the AFC adopted the competition and branded it using its informal title in an official capacity; they jointly organised that year's edition with BSWW.[7] Since 2017, the AFC have been sole organisers.[1] For 2021, the competition was renamed as the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, bringing it in line with the naming of other AFC senior national tournaments.[8]
Results
[edit | edit source]For all tournaments, the top three teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (except for 2009, when only the top two teams qualified as one of the AFC spots was automatically given to the World Cup hosts, United Arab Emirates).
- Tournament names
- 2006 – 2019: AFC Beach Soccer Championship
- 2021 – present: AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup
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- a. ^ Despite being hosts and defending champions, the United Arab Emirates did not participate in the championship as they had already qualified automatically for the 2009 World Cup as its host nation.
- 2026: 23-31 May 2026 Qualification / 18-28 November 2026 Final
- 2028: 3-11 June 2028 Qualification / 1-11 November 2028 Final
Teams reaching the top four
[edit | edit source]| Team | Titles | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Flag of Iran.svg Iran | 4 (2013, 2017, 2023, 2025) | – | 5 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2015) | 1 (2009) | 10 |
| File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 3 (2009, 2011, 2019) | 6 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2023) | 2 (2017, 2025) | – | 11 |
| File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg United Arab Emirates | 2 (2007*, 2008*) | 2 (2017, 2019) | 1 (2013) | 2 (2011, 2023) | 7 |
| File:Flag of Oman.svg Oman | 1 (2015) | 2 (2011*, 2025) | 3 (2009, 2019, 2023) | – | 6 |
| File:Flag of Bahrain.svg Bahrain | 1 (2006) | 1 (2009) | – | 1 (2007) | 3 |
| File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | – | – | – | 2 (2006, 2008) | 2 |
| File:Flag of Lebanon.svg Lebanon | – | – | – | 2 (2015, 2017) | 2 |
| File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia | – | – | – | 1 (2013) | 1 |
| File:Flag of Palestine.svg Palestine | – | – | – | 1 (2019) | 1 |
| File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Saudi Arabia | – | – | – | 1 (2025) | 1 |
- * Hosts
Summary (2006–2025)
[edit | edit source]
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Points: W = 3 points / WE = 2 points / WP = 1 points / L = 0 points
Awards
[edit | edit source]By category
[edit | edit source]- ^ In 2017 and 2019, the "best goalkeeper" was not awarded. However, the goalkeepers chosen for the "dream team" of the tournament may be considered as the de facto best goalkeepers for these years.
By nationality
[edit | edit source]| Rank | Team | Awards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | File:Flag of Iran.svg Iran | 13 |
| 2 | File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 12 |
| 3 | File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg United Arab Emirates | 4 |
| 4 | File:Flag of Oman.svg Oman | 3 |
| 5 | File:Flag of Bahrain.svg Bahrain | 2 |
| 6 | File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia | 1 |
Team of the tournament
[edit | edit source]Since 2017, the competition's Technical Study Group have produced a post-tournament report including a dream and reserve "team of the tournament".
| Year | Dream team | Reserve team | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Japan Shingo Terukina (GK) |
Iran Peyman Hosseini (GK) |
||
|
United Arab Emirates Mohamed Abdulla (GK) |
Japan Shingo Terukina (GK) |
||
|
Iran Mahdi Mirjalili (GK) |
Japan Shinya Shibamoto (GK) |
Appearances and performance timeline
[edit | edit source]The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the AFC Beach Soccer Championship and how many appearances they each have made.
- Legend
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- Timeline
Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup
[edit | edit source]The following is a performance timeline of the AFC teams who have appeared in the Beach Soccer World Cup since being sanctioned by FIFA in 2005.
- Legend
|
|
| Team \ Years | Brazil 2005[†] |
Brazil 2006 |
Brazil 2007 |
France 2008 |
United Arab Emirates 2009 |
Italy 2011 |
French Polynesia 2013 |
Portugal 2015 |
The Bahamas 2017 |
Paraguay 2019 |
Russia 2021[†] |
United Arab Emirates 2023 |
Seychelles 2025 |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Flag of Bahrain.svg Bahrain | QF | R1 | 2 | |||||||||||
| File:Flag of Iran.svg Iran | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | QF | QF | 3rd | 3rd | Q | 9 | ||||
| File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 4th | QF | R1 | R1 | QF | R1 | QF | QF | R1 | 4th | 2nd | QF | Q | 13 |
| File:Flag of Oman.svg Oman | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | Q | 6 | |||||||
| File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand | R1 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg United Arab Emirates | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | QF | 8 |
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- Notes
- ^ In 2005 and 2021, no AFC qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup were held and teams were selected to represent AFC (2005: Japan and Thailand; 2021: Japan, Oman and United Arab Emirates).
See also
[edit | edit source]- Beach soccer at the Asian Beach Games
- AFF Beach Soccer Championship
- WAFF Beach Soccer Championship
- AFC Futsal Asian Cup
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2017 Competition Regulations. Asian Football Confederation. 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015 - AFC Qualifier Qatar Archived 2020-10-20 at the Wayback Machine. Beach Soccer Worldwide. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ See the following for examples: [1]; [2]; [3][dead link]; [4]; [5]; [6].
- ^ FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015 – AFC Qualifier Qatar Regulations. Asian Football Confederation. 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, the-AFC.com
- AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup
- Men's continental association football competitions in Asia
- Men's international association football competitions in Asia
- Asian Football Confederation competitions for national teams
- FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification
- International beach soccer competitions
- Recurring sporting events established in 2006
- Beach soccer in Asia