We’re all ready for the kick off of the World Beach Games on the Qatari coast!
The globe’s greatest male and female beach soccer representatives have arrived in Doha, Qatar to dispute precious medals in the first ever edition of the World Beach Games.
Thursday will see the ball start rolling in the men’s competition, while all the action will cease on Friday for the opening ceremony. The games will resume on Saturday and continue until Tuesday (15 October) when the semi-finals begin. The women will play in two groups.
The athletes have been training under the scorching sun all day but tomorrow will see them face their first tests.
The women will kick the action off on Katara Beach as Paraguay face Great Britain, made up of the familiar faces from the women’s England team.
At the same time on pitch two, European champions Russia will face USA. Getting the men’s matches started at 16:30 local time, the Spanish-speaking derby will see Concacaf champions Mexico take on Spain.
After that, the same match-up will be played by the women’s teams, no doubt watched by their tired countrymen, and Brazil’s women will face their first ever official beach soccer game against African Beach Games gold medalists, Cape Verde.
Later on, Gilberto’s Brazilian world champions will take on Morocco in their first test in Qatar.
With gold medals up for grabs and so much quality on show here in Qatar, it is clear that this is going to be an unmissable beach soccer showdown.
Stay up-to-date on the World Beach Games Qatar 2019 on the Beach Soccer Worldwide website.