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Beach soccer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beach soccer
International match
Highestgoverning bodyBeach Soccer Worldwide(1992-2005 / 2005-Ongoing) +FIFA(Since 2005)
Nicknamesbeach football, sand football, beach footie, beasal
First played1992 atWill Rogers Beach,Los Angeles,United States[1]
Characteristics
ContactYes
Team members5 at a time
TypeTeam sport,ball sport
EquipmentFootball
Presence
OlympicNo

Beach soccer,also known asbeach football,sand footballorbeasal,is a variant ofassociation footballplayed on abeachor some form ofsand.[2]

Footballhas long been played informally on beaches, but the introduction ofbeach soccerwas an attempt to codify rules for the game in 1992 by the founders ofBeach Soccer Worldwide,a company set up to develop the sport and responsible for the majority of its tournaments.[3]

The first international matches were played in 1993 for men and 2009 for women.[4][5]As of July 2023,there are 193 men's and 64 women's clubs and 101 men's and 23 women's national teams sorted in the Beach Soccer Worldwide Rankings.[6]

History[edit]

See also:Beach Soccer Worldwide

Beach football (beasalorfutebol de areia) started inBrazil,more precisely atRio de Janeiro.In 1950 the first official tournament was created to unite neighborhood small tournaments that happened since 1940.[7]It has grown to be an international game. The participation of international players such asEric Cantona,Michel,Julio Salinas,Romário,JúniorandZicohas helped to expandtelevisioncoverage to audiences in over 170 countries.[citation needed]

Beach soccer had been played recreationally for years and in different formats. In 1992 the laws of the game were envisioned and a pilot event was staged by the founding partners of BSWW inLos Angelesand the sport was adopted byBeach Soccer Los Angelesin 2017 where the game is played all aroundLos Angeles County.By 1993, the first professional beach soccer competition was organized atMiami Beachwith teams from theUnited States,Brazil,ArgentinaandItalytaking part.

Women's beach soccer game at YBF 2010 inYyteri Beach,Pori,Finland
A beach soccer game at the 2006 Chicago Beach Soccer Invitational

In April 1994 the first event to be covered by network television transmissions was held onCopacabana BeachinRio de Janeiroand the city hosted the firstBeach Soccer World Championshipin 1995. The competition was won by the host nation, making Brazil the first-ever World Champions of Beach Soccer. Commercial interest begin to match developments on the field and growing demand for the sport around the world gave rise to thePro Beach Soccer Tourin 1996.

The first Pro Beach Soccer Tour included a total of 60 games in two years acrossSouth America,Europe,Asiaand theUnited States.Interest generated by the tour in Europe led to the creation of theEuropean Pro Beach Soccer Leaguein 1998, providing a more solid infrastructure that would increase the professionalism of the spectacle. EPBSL, now known as the Euro BS League, brought promoters together from across the continent and satisfied the demands of the media, sponsors and fans. Four years on from its creation, the first step in the building of a legitimate worldwide competition structure for the sport of pro beach soccer had been taken.

Behind the scenes developments were also taking place, with the Beach Soccer Company relocating its headquarters to Europe firstly toMonacoand thenBarcelonabefore becoming Pro Beach Soccer, S.L. in April 2000. One year later they would join forces with Octagon Koch Tavares (who had continued to organise the World Championships and events in South America) to form a single entity known asBeach Soccer Worldwide(BSWW) with the aim of unifying all major Pro Beach Soccer tournaments in the world under the same structure and providing representation of the sport to major sponsors, the media andFIFA.

FIFA became the global governing body of the sport in 2005, acknowledging BSWW's framework and organizing thefirst FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[8]

The next four years would see this growth consolidated by further progress both on and off the field. By 2004, some 17 nations had entered teams, with this number expected to rise to over[9]stage events.

Such interest has allowed BSWW to strike certain sponsorship deals with international companies includingMcDonald's,Coca-ColaandMasterCard,who stepped up their involvement in 2004 and are now title sponsors of the Euro BS League. Recognition has also come from FIFA who have cited BSWW as the major entity behind the creation and growth of Beach Soccer, forming a "highly promising" partnership that was "in its full splendour" seen in the 2005 world cup, held in Copacabana Beach, Brazil. France won the first world cup and the next year Brazil won it at the same venue. The World Cup has continued to flourish with the first held outside Brazil in 2008 and future World Cups spreading as far out asTahitiin2013andPortugalin2015.[10]

TheWomen's Euro Beach Soccer CupandWomen's Euro Winners Cupwere first held in 2016, whereas theWomen's Euro Beach Soccer Leaguedebuted in 2021. In addition, the2019 World Beach Gameshad a women's beach soccer tournament, and a Women's Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup was held in 2021. As of 2022, FIFA and the other five continental confederations do not host women's beach soccer tournaments. TheAsian Beach Games,European GamesandSouth American Beach Gamesalso do not have women's beach soccer tournaments.

Rules[edit]

The rules of beach soccer are based on theLaws of the Game of association football,with some modifications.[11]

Field[edit]

A beach soccer pitch. The dashed white lines are not marked on the pitch and must be inferred by players and officials.

A beach soccer field is a level sandy area smaller than a regularassociation football pitch.The field is cleared of pebbles and seashells along with any other objects which could injure a player.

The field is rectangular in shape and thetouch lineis longer than the goal line. The field dimensions are:

  • Length:35–37 metres (38.3–40.5 yards)
  • Width:26–28 metres (28.4–30.6 yards)

The penalty area is within 9 m (9.8 yards) of the goals and is marked by a yellow flag situated in touch. Two red flags opposite each other are at the center of the field to represent the half-way line. The goals are smaller than their standard association football counterparts, being 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in) from the ground to the bottom of the crossbar and 5.5 metres (18 ft) in width between the inside of each upright.

Players[edit]

Each team consists of five players including the goalkeeper and an unlimited number of substitutions, from a selection of three to five players. Throw-ins and kick-ins mean the pace and flow of the game can be faster than regular football. Shoes and socks are not allowed; players must play in bare feet, although ankle guards are permitted. Goal clearances (the equivalent of agoal kick) are taken by the goalkeeper using their hands to throw the ball and a goal cannot be scored directly from these.[12]

Match length[edit]

A game lasts 36 minutes and is split up into three 12-minute periods. Unlike association football, in professional matches the referee is not the sole arbiter of the end of a period. A separate timekeeping official controls the official game clock, which is stopped for stoppages in play and typically counts down to zero, as in North American sports such as basketball and ice hockey. Draws are not permitted, with the game going into three minutes ofgolden goalextra timefollowed by apenalty shoot-outif the score is still on level terms after normal time. Unlike normal football, penalty kicks are directly decided bysudden deathrules; it was changed since 2014 to three kicks from the penalty mark are taken, and the team that has scored more wins. If it is not decided after three kicks from the penalty mark, the sudden death rules will then be applied.[13]Since 2021, the rules were changed again from three to five kicks from the penalty mark.

Referees and discipline[edit]

Beach soccer has two on-field referees who co-operatively referee the game. They are assisted by a third referee who acts in a manner similar to football'sfourth officialand a timekeeper.

As in football,yellow and red cardscan be issued. Unlike in association football, the team can then bring on a substitute to replace the dismissed player after two minutes.[14]Similar to apower playin ice hockey, this period of numerical advantage ends early if the penalised team concedes a goal.

Free kicks and penalties[edit]

Free kicks are awarded for various fouls. All free kicks aredirect free kickswhich has to be taken by the player who was fouled, unless awarded for deliberate handling. The laws specify that all players apart from the opposing goalkeeper must clear a zone between the kicker and the goal. Penalties are awarded for fouls within the penalty area.

Other major differences from football[edit]

A beach soccer ball
  • The ball is inflated to a lower pressure (0.4–0.6atm,compared to 0.6–1.1 atm in football).
  • Instead of a throw-in, a team may choose to take a kick-in.
  • Preventing an opponent doing abicycle kickis a specific foul.
  • Teams may not keep possession in their penalty area for more than four seconds.
  • Goalkeepers may handle aback-passfrom a teammate a maximum of once during their team's possession. This is considered reset once the opposing team has possessed the ball.

Tournaments[edit]

The following are some of the competitions:

International[edit]

Game at theFIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006

Multi-sports games[edit]

PRO/Amateur International[edit]

Confederation[edit]

AFC (Asian Football Confederation):

CAF (Confederation of African Football):

CONCACAF(Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football):

CONMEBOL(South American Football Confederation):

OFC (Oceania Football Confederation):

UEFA(Union of European Football Associations):

See also[edit]

History Results Database[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"The History and Growth of Pro Beach Soccer (1992 to Present)".beachsoccer. 2001. Archived fromthe originalon February 15, 2002.Retrieved28 April2016.
  2. ^"BBC – Manchester – Life's a beach in Tameside".BBC News.2009-08-14.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-04-13.Retrieved2012-10-03.
  3. ^Pickup, Oliver (2013-09-04)."Sand Aliens & Heel Flicks: Introducing The England Beach Soccer Team".Sabotage Times. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-04-08.Retrieved2014-05-14.
  4. ^"beach SOCCER RESULTS".August 16, 2021. Archived fromthe originalon 2021-08-16.
  5. ^"Beach Soccer Worldwide".December 4, 2020. Archived fromthe originalon 2020-12-04.
  6. ^"Rankings".Beach Soccer Worldwide.
  7. ^"Projeto de Lei 2102/2016 - Clause 2102/2016".Câmara do Rio de Janeiro(in Brazilian Portuguese).Archivedfrom the original on 2017-04-22.Retrieved2022-01-24.
  8. ^"FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup".beachsoccer.Archived fromthe originalon 2020-05-13.Retrieved2018-07-06.
  9. ^twenty for the Euro BS League in 2005, contributing to vastly expanded television coverage of the series and unprecedented demand from promoters in more than seventy countries looking to
  10. ^Borkakoty, Rituraj (November 21, 2013)."Beach soccer is bigger than beach volleyball: Cusco".Khaleej Times.Archivedfrom the original on February 9, 2014.RetrievedJune 25,2014.
  11. ^"BEACH SOCCER - Laws of the Game 2015/2016"(PDF).FIFA.FIFA. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 15 June 2016.Retrieved5 July2018.
  12. ^"BBC – The Guide: What's on in Somerset".BBC News.2009-08-13.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-05-15.Retrieved2012-10-03.
  13. ^"Amendments to the Beach Soccer Laws of the Game - 2014"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2014-07-08.
  14. ^"FIFA booklet –Beach Soccer Laws of the Game(2006) "(PDF).Images.ussoccer. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2009-03-25.Retrieved2012-10-03.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBeach soccer.
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