Mario Narciso’s men won almost everything in their path to replace Spain as the year’s best team
In an incredible year for the European powerhouses, in which Portugal dethroned Brazil as world champions, won gold medals at the European Games Minsk, won the Euro Beach Soccer League on home soil and retained the Mundialito, it is easy to see how Portugal are the year’s best team.
Various factors are considered when awarding and deducting points from teams in the world ranking, such as the amount of games and tournaments they compete in, as well as finishing positions.
On top on all their team achievements, they saw Jordan Santos claim the title of world’s best beach soccer player, who was literally handed the award by Spaniard Llorenç Gomez.
In the year’s official ranking, Portugal also replaced their Iberian rivals as their stellar performances saw them rack up points in almost every competition they competed in.
The year didn’t start on track for Narciso’s side, who failed to earn a place in the first ever edition of the ANOC World Beach Games in Qatar after a disappointing performance in the European Qualifier in Salou.
However, they appeared to learn from their shortcomings and went from strength to strength as the year went on, finally culminating in an historic FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title.
In the Overall World Ranking, Brazil still lead the way, however their points cushion has been dramatically slashed by the romping Portuguese, who are just 240 off the Brazilians, the lowest the number has been in years.
Will 2020 be the year that Brazil’s reign at the top of the World Ranking finally comes to an end.
