| FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup – Europe qualifier | |
| Organiser: | BSWW |
| Number Of Teams: | ~25 |
| Region: | Europe (UEFA) |
| Qualifier For: | FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup |
| Most Successful Team: | (4 titles) |
| Current: | 2023 UEFA qualifiers |
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).
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] The organisers, Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), decided not to revert to using the EBSL.
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]
| Year | Location | Final | Third place play-off | Fifth place | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runners-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | ||||||
| 2008 details |  Benidorm, Spain | 4–3 | 4–2 | ||||||||
| 2009 details | Castellón, Spain | 4–4 (13–12 p.) | 8–6 | ||||||||
| 2010 details |  Bibione, Italy | 4–2 | 5–2 | ||||||||
| 2012 details |  Moscow, Russia | 5–3 | 3–0 | ||||||||
| 2014 details | Jesolo, Italy | 6–5 | 5–4 | ||||||||
| 2016 details | Jesolo, Italy | 6–3 | 8–3 | ||||||||
| 2019 details | Moscow, Russia | 7–1 | 6–2 | ||||||||
| 2021 details | Nazaré, Portugal[14] | 5–2 | 6–5 | ||||||||
| 2023 details |  Baku, Azerbaijan |
| |||||||||
| 2024 details | Cádiz, Spain[15] | ||||||||||
| Team | Titles | width=140 | Runners-up | width=140 | Third place | width=140 | Fourth place | Total top 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=gold | bgcolor=gold | 4 (2008*, 2009*, 2012, 2021) | – | – | 1 (2014) | 5 | |||
| bgcolor=gold | bgcolor=gold | 2 (2014, 2019*) | 2 (2009, 2012*) | 2 (2008, 2010) | – | 6 | |||
| bgcolor=gold | bgcolor=gold | 1 (2010) | 1 (2021) | 1 (2012) | – | 3 | |||
| bgcolor=gold | bgcolor=gold | 1 (2016) | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| – | 2 (2008, 2010) | 2 (2016, 2021*) | 1 (2009) | 5 | |||||
| – | 2 (2014, 2016) | 1 (2009) | 2 (2010, 2019) | 5 | |||||
| – | 1 (2019) | 1 (2014*) | 2 (2008, 2016*) | 4 | |||||
| – | – | 1 (2019) | 1 (2021) | 2 | |||||
| – | – | – | 1 (2012) | 1 |