…with the next FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in our mind
As we approach the end of another hugely successful beach soccer year, I would like to celebrate what has been the biggest news of the year for our sport as a whole, which is FIFA’s renewed commitment to beach soccer.
As confirmed in Dubai recently, our sport is now in the FIFA programme for 2018 to 2024 and we will continue to hold the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup every two years from 2019. After FIFA’s period of rethinking their competitions structure for the three modalities (football, futsal and beach soccer), this is clearly a major step forward for us all and allows us to continue working towards growing the sport and building on the work of recent years, with the Xth FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the horizon.
The last 12 months have seen so many amazing events and precisely, at Stars Night, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017 in The Bahamas was crowned the best amid some fierce competition from a number of top events.
Whoever next puts on the competition will have some big shoes to fill after Nassau proved exceptional hosts for a tournament that reinforced beach soccer’s reputation in the Caribbean.
Following on swiftly from the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the 20th edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League. The league is a staple part of our calendar and consistently proves popular among players and teams, with this year welcoming two new venues in the form Nazaré and Warnemünde – both of which received positive feedback from those involved.
Asuncion (Paraguay) and Yadz and Beshr (Iran) also featured in our calendar for the first time this year while Puerto Vallarta in Mexico made a welcome return after seven years away, with all these places valued parts of the beach soccer family.
The sport coming back to Nigeria (Copa Lagos), Brazil (Mundialito de Clubes), Italy (Superfinal) or Cascais (Mundialito) demonstrate that whoever tastes the beach soccer elixir, is willing to repeat.
Last but not least, as we promised to do, women’s beach soccer has made very positive steps in its development over the last few months with female tournaments at the Euro Beach Soccer Cup, Euro Winners Cup and Visit Puerto Vallarta Cup all helping advance this side of the sport.
Women’s beach soccer remains a big priority for us, so stay tuned over the next few weeks and months for developments in this area.
It’s now time to start making things happen for this exciting 2018 season. And believe me: we are already on it.
Thank you all once again for your support and enthusiasm for our game.
by Joan Cusco, BSWW Executive Vice president
