Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations explained

Organiser:CAF
Number Of Teams:8 (main tournament)
Region:Africa
Qualifier For:FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Most Successful Team: (7 titles)
Current:2022 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations

The Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations (BSAFCON) is the beach soccer tournament of Africa,[1] organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Launched in 2006, the winners of each edition[2] qualifies for African nations to the upcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[3]

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.

Senegal is the most successful nation in this competition and in World Cup qualifications, having won 7 titles, including the latest one in 2022, and qualified from with nine out of eleven attempts; Nigeria follow close behind, with six qualifications.

History

In 2006, FIFA made it a requirement for all confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national team(s) in their region and hence those 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).[4] FIFA currently allocate Africa two berths at the World Cup[5] and hence the top two teams (the winners and the runners-up) qualify to the World Cup finals.[6]

Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) originally organized the competition[7] under the title FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier[8] (also known informally as the CAF Beach Soccer Championship).[9] Despite historically having minimal input (often only sending delegates),[10] CAF became lead organizers in 2015,[11] establishing a qualification phase to determine the eight nations to compete in the main tournament. On 6 August 2015, CAF renamed the competition as the "Beach Soccer Africa Cup Of Nations".[12] [13] CAF later announced that since three of its competitions were already held in odd-numbered years, the tournament would now be held in even-numbered years henceforth to desaturate the calendar, starting with 2016.[14]

Results

For all editions of this tournament, the top two teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

YearLocationwidth = 1% rowspan=2Finalwidth = 1% rowspan=2Third place play-off
ChampionsScoreRunners-upThird placeScoreFourth place
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier (CAF Beach Soccer Championship)
2006
details
Durban, South Africawidth = 1% rowspan=65–3width = 1% rowspan=68–3
2007
details
Durban, South Africa6–52–0
2008
details
Durban, South Africa12–66–3
2009
details
Durban, South Africa7–46–4
2011
details
Casablanca, Morocco7–44–4
(1–0 p.)
2013
details
El Jadida, Morocco4–17–2
Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations
2015
details
Roche Caiman, Seychelleswidth = 1% rowspan=61–1
(2–1 p.)
width = 1% rowspan=69–1
2016
details
Lagos, Nigeria8–44–1
2018
details
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt6–13–2
2021
details
Saly, Senegal4–15–3
2022
details
Vilankulo, Mozambique[15] 2–2
(6–5 p.)
6–4
2024
details
Hurghada, Egypt[16]

Successful nations

TeamTitlesRunners-upThird placewidth=160Fourth placeTotal
bgcolor=goldbgcolor=gold7 (2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021*, 2022)2 (2007, 2015)1 (2009)10
bgcolor=goldbgcolor=gold2 (2007, 2009)4 (2006, 2011, 2016*, 2018)1 (2015)1 (2013)8
bgcolor=goldbgcolor=gold1 (2006)1 (2008)2
bgcolor=goldbgcolor=gold1 (2015)1 (2011)2
2 (2009, 2013)2 (2007, 2008)2 (2006, 2015)6
1 (2022) 4 (2006, 2011, 2016, 2018*)2 (2008, 2009)7
1 (2021*)1 (2022)2
3 (2013*, 2021, 2022)2 (2016, 2018)5
1 (2021)1
1 (2007*)1

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 17 December 2016. Four countries lead formation of West Africa Beach Soccer Union. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 18 August 2018.
  2. Web site: 18 December 2016. Senegal crowned AFCON champions. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 18 August 2018.
  3. Web site: Regulations of the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150404101817/http://www.cafonline.com/Portals/0/Regulations%20and%20Official%20Documents/Competitions%20Regulation/Beach%20Soccer%20Regulations%20EN.pdf. 4 April 2015. CAFOnline.com. 31 March 2015.
  4. Web site: 3 March 2006. FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 qualifiers to start in Brazil on 5 March. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060513125419/http://www.fifa.com/en/media/index/0,1369,115293,00.html?articleid=115293. 13 May 2006. FIFA. 12 February 2018.
  5. Web site: World Cup gets bigger . https://web.archive.org/web/20180215084124/https://www.fifa.com/beachsoccerworldcup/news/y=2005/m=8/news=world-cup-gets-bigger-99858.html . dead . February 15, 2018 . FIFA. 12 February 2018 . 25 August 2005 .
  6. Web site: Glossary / Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20180819083137/https://lechicfootafrique.com/glossary/. 19 August 2018. Lechic Foot Afrique. 18 August 2018.
  7. Web site: Regulations FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20070107132659/http://www.fifa.com/documents/tournaments/BSWC2006/FIFA_beach_soccer_world_cup_2006_regulations_en.pdf. 7 January 2007. FIFA. 20 April 2016.
  8. Book: Gaich, Rémi. 11 January 2016. BSWW competitions / National teams. Barcelona. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 14, 15, 19.
  9. Web site: Senegal claim African crown. https://web.archive.org/web/20180819083206/https://www.fifa.com/beachsoccerworldcup/news/y=2008/m=4/news=senegal-claim-african-crown-728171.html . dead . August 19, 2018 . 1 April 2008. FIFA. 18 August 2018.
  10. Web site: 22 May 2013. CAF Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifiers begin in Morocco. CAFOnline.com. 18 August 2018.
  11. Web site: CAF COMPETITIONS / 13. African Beach Soccer Championship. https://web.archive.org/web/20150215052824/http://www.cafonline.com/en-us/caf/cafcompetitions.aspx. 15 February 2015. CAFOnline.com. 18 August 2018.
  12. Web site: 6 August 2015. Decisions of CAF Executive Committee on 6 August 2015. CAFOnline.com. 18 February 2024.
  13. Web site: 11 August 2015. CAF renames six competitions. Daily Post Nigeria. 16 August 2018.
  14. Web site: 16 February 2016. Nigeria to host 2016 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations. Goal.com. 18 August 2018.
  15. Web site: 20 May 2021. CAN-2022 de futebol de praia é uma oportunidade para o País expor as suas potencialidades turísticas.. Yassin Amuji. 22 February 2022. pt-PT.
  16. Web site: Gamal. Ahmad Ali. 4 July 2022. OFFICIAL: Egypt host 2024 CAF Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations. KingFut. 2 August 2022 .