The Russia national beach soccer team (, Sbornaya Rossii po plyazhnomu futbolu) represents Russia in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by the Russian Football Union, the governing body for football in Russia. The team's highest achievements are three World Cup crowns conquered in 2011, 2013 and 2021.
History The Serebryany Bor, specifically Beach No. 3, is said to be the birthplace of Russian beach soccer. Players including Andrey Bukhlitskiy and Egor Eremeev used that beach for training and fun games.
Russia debuted at the 1996 Beach Soccer World Championship, with a squad including Vagiz Khidiyatullin, Vyacheslav Chanov and Andrei Yakubik. In their first match against Italy, Russia lost 1–5, which is one of their biggest losses to date. Notwithstanding the overall fifth place at the Championships, beach soccer was not supported by the government for the next 10 years. In 2005, Nikolai Pisarev and other sportsmen suggested Sport's Minister Vitaly Mutko reviving the Russian national beach soccer team. Mutko supported the idea and in the same year Russia participated at the Euro Beach Soccer Cup, sending Mostovoi, Karpin, Nikiforov, Lediakhov, Kiriakov and Popov. Furthermore, one Brazilian consulted the team.
In the following years, Russia progressed. In 2007, players such as Makarov, Shkarin and Bukhlitskiy debuted for the team. That year Russia became third at the Euro Beach Soccer Cup. At the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Russia finished ninth, and in the following year already sixth. Since Mikhail Likhachev's appointment as head coach in 2010, the team of Russia won the 2011 and 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. One of the exceptions was the insufficient result from the World Cup qualification tournament, where Russia was placed 5th at the end and so missed the opportunity to qualify for the 2017 World Cup.
There was some regress for Russia in the 2018 season. While they traditionally played well in the Moscow stage of the Euro Beach Soccer League, winning the group which included the teams of Switzerland, Azerbaijan and Poland, and finishing second in the last Stage in Warnemünde, losing only to Spain, Russia placed second in their team after Italy and so qualified for the 3rd-place match, where they lost to Portugal after penalty shoot-out. For the first time Russia did not finish within the top 3. They rebounded in the Intercontinental Cup, defeating Tahiti and the United States in the group stage. In the semifinals they defeated Brazil after penalty shoot-out, ending the South American's 66-game winning streak, but the Russians were defeated by Iran in the final.
Russia started well in the next season. They qualified for the inaugural World Beach Games after beating Norway, Ukraine, Switzerland and Spain, and proceeded to win silver at that tournament. The team then finished just 6th at the European Games. At the Euro Beach Soccer League, in the first stage, Russia was again placed 2nd in their group after Spain, but still qualified for the Superfinal. Russia rebounded in the FIFA World Cup qualification in Moscow, beating all of their eight opponents to win the title for the second time. In the final Russia beat Italy 7–1.
In the new 2021 season, Russia played their first international matches at the 2021 Euro Beach Soccer League, defeating Turkey, Belarus and Spain in the 1st Stage. As host of the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Russia automatically qualified for this edition.
Results and fixtures
Matches played within the last 12 months, as well as upcoming fixtures, are displayed.
Legend
2019
2021
Coaching staff Source: Position Name Head coach Mikhail Likhachev Assistant coach Ilya Leonov Goalkeeping coach Andrey Bukhlitskiy Physician Mingiyan Badmayev Massagist Aleksandr Lelekov Chef Sergey Shamray Team manager Ilya Pisarev Press officer Yulia Ivanova Translator Anastasia Ryabova Video analyst Oleg Rubtsov
Players Current squad The national squad for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
Coach: Mikhail Likhachev
Player records Top goalscorers
*Players in bold are still active with Russia. RankPlayerGoalsCapsAverageCareer 1 Dmitry Shishin 235 232 2007– 2 Aleksey Makarov 189 266 2007– 3 Yuri Krasheninnikov 135 239 2009– 4 Egor Shaykov 127 143 2005–2019 5 Ilya Leonov 114 205 2005–2017 6Artur Paporotnyi 102 148 2011– 7 Egor Eremeev 75 101 2008–2015 8 Fedor Zemskov 69 57 2018– 9Boris Nikonorov 69 77 2016– 10Anton Shkarin 66 287 2005– 11 Kirill Romanov 61 155 2010– 12Yuri Gorchinskyi 60 169 2007–2017
Records Team record Winning streak (22) No. Date Competition Opponentteam Result– 31 July 2011Euro Beach Soccer League 3–5 1 4 August 2011 8–1 2 5 August 2011 4–2 3 7 August 2011 6–4 4 2 September 2011FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 8–4 5 4 September 2011 5–0 6 6 September 2011 7–3 7 8 September 2011 5–3 8 10 September 2011 7–3 9 11 September 2011 12–8 10 22 November 2011Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup 8–1 11 23 November 2011 7–4 12 24 November 2011 7–0 13 25 November 2011 4–4 (2–1) 14 26 November 2011 5–4 aet 15 8 June 2012Euro Beach Soccer League 9–6 16 9 June 2012 6–2 17 10 June 2012 1–0 18 3 August 2012 5–2 19 4 August 2012 3–2 20 5 August 2012 7–2 21 23 August 2012 7–3 22 25 August 2012 6–3– 26 August 2012 5–6
Competitive record Beach Soccer World Championships World Championships recordYearRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGD 1995did not enter 1996Group stage5th3102810−2 1997did not enter 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004Total0 title1/103102810–2
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup FIFA World Cup recordQualification (UEFA) recordYearRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGDRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGD 2005did not qualifyNo qualification matches 2006Withdrew 2007Group stage9th310296+3 2008Quarterfinal6th42021611+5Third Place3rd75022812+16 2009Quarterfinal7th4202139+4Runners-up2nd65013514+21 2011Champions1st66004421+23 Third place3rd75025421+33 2013Champions1st65102915+14Runners-up2nd86024327+16 2015Third place3rd63123025+5Champions1st77002813+15 2017did not qualifyFifth place5th86114521+24 2019Third place3rd64023029+1Champions 1st8 8 0 051 9 +42 2021Champions 1st6 3 3 030 18 +12Automatically qualified as hosts 2023SuspendedSuspended 2025Total3 titles8/113522510171105+622 titles7/9514218284117+167
Euro Beach Soccer League EBSL recordYearRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGD1998did not enter1999200020012002200320042005did not qualify2006did not enter2007Third place3rd42022415+92008Third place3rd3201147+72009Champions1st3310108+2 2010Third place3rd32011511+42011Champions1st3300187+112012Runners-up2nd32011812+62013Champions1st43012215+72014Champions1st43012618+82015Third place3rd43102011+92016Third place3rd42112118+32017Champions 1st4400157+82018Fourth place4th42021711+62019Runners-up2nd42111815+32020Withdrew 2021Fifth place5th42022917+122022Suspended2023202420252026Total5 titles14/245137413267172+95
Euro Beach Soccer Cup EBSC recordYearRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGD 1998did not enter 1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Runners-up2nd3201108+2 2006did not enter 2007 2008 2009Fifth place5th3201178+9 2010Champions1st33002111+10 2012Champions1st3300134+9 2014Third place3rd32011411+3 2016Third place3rd3201136+7Total2 titles6/151814048848+40
Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup BSIC recordYearRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGD 2011Champions1st53203113+18 2012Champions1st55003213+19 2013Runners-up2nd53222825+3 2014Runners-up2nd54212211+10 2015Champions1st54012311+11 2016Third place3rd53022622+4 2017Fourth place4th53021612+4 2018Runners-up2nd52122214+8 2019Fourth place4th52031413+1 2021Champions1st54102921+8 2022 did not enterTotal4 titles10/105035813243155+88
World Beach Games World Beach Games recordQualificationYearRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGDRoundPosPldWL 2019Runners-up2nd53112421+3Champions1st440 2023SuspendedSuspended 2027Total0 titles253112421+31 title1/3440
European Games European Games recordYearRoundPosPldWW+LGFGAGD 2015Champions1st54011913+6 2019Sixth place6th520319190 2023Suspended 2027Total1 title2/4106043832+6
Head-to-head record Team Russia won 271 (76%) out of 355 matches.Statistics - team Russia
Only main international events are counted Team First Last Record Win % Italy 1996 2019 13–8 62% Argentina 1996 2015 2–2 50% United States 1996 2021 5–1 83% Belgium 2005 2005 1–0 100% Portugal 2005 2021 9–12 40% Switzerland 2005 2021 14–5 74% Mexico 2007 2019 3–1 75% Solomon Islands 2007 2007 1–0 100% Brazil 2007 2019 7–7 50% Cameroon 2008 2008 1–0 100% United Arab Emirates 2008 2019 3–3 50% Poland 2009 2021 8–2 80% Spain 2009 2021 18–8 69% France 2009 2018 10–1 91% Costa Rica 2009 2009 1–0 100% Romania 2010 2016 9–0 100% Turkey 2011 2021 4–0 100% Nigeria 2011 2012 3–0 100% Tahiti 2011 2018 7–1 88% Venezuela 2011 2011 1–0 100% El Salvador 2011 2019 2–0 100% Germany 2013 2019 7–0 100% Belarus 2013 2021 10–4 71% Netherlands 2013 2014 1–1 50% Greece 2013 2017 4–0 100% Japan 2013 2021 7–0 100% Ivory Coast 2013 2013 1–0 100% Paraguay 2013 2021 5–0 100% Iran 2013 2021 7–7 50% Hungary 2014 2019 4–0 100% Madagascar 2015 2015 1–0 100% Egypt 2015 2019 3–0 100% Ukraine 2016 2019 5–0 100% Kazakhstan 2016 2016 1–0 100% Norway 2016 2019 2–0 100% Moldova 2016 2019 2–0 100% Czech Republic 2016 2016 1–0 100% Azerbaijan 2018 2019 3–0 100% Estonia 2019 2019 1–0 100% Uruguay 2019 2019 1–0 100% Senegal 2019 2019 1–0 100%
Honours
2007 Season EBSL Superfinal, Marseille, France: 3rd Place EBSL Regular Phase Event, Tignes, France: Champions EBSL Regular Phase Event, San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy: Champions 2008 Season ESBL Regular Phase Event, Tignes, France: Champions 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Plage du Prado, France: 6th place 2009 Season Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal winners 2010 Season Euro Beach Soccer Cup, Rome, Italy: champions 2011 Season 2011 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal winners 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Marina di Ravenna, Italy: Champions 2011 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Champions
2012 Season 2012 Euro Beach Soccer Cup, Moscow: Champions 2012 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal runners-up 2012 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai: Champions 2013 Season 2013 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal winners 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Tahiti: Champions 2013 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai: Runners-up 2014 Season 2014 Euro Beach Soccer Cup, Baku, Azerbaijan: 3rd place 2014 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal winners 2014 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai: Runners-up 2015 Season 2015 European Games, Baku: Champions 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Portugal: 3rd place 2015 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal 3rd place 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification: Champions 2015 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai: Champions
2016 Season 2016 Euro Beach Soccer Cup, Belgrade: 3rd place 2016 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal 3rd place 2016 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai: 3rd place 2017 Season 2017 BSWW Mundialito, Cascais: 3rd place 2017 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal winners 2018 Season 2018 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai: Runners-up 2019 Season 2019 World Beach Games: Runners-up 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification: Champions 2019 Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal runners-up 2020 Season Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Season 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Moscow, Russia: Champions 2021 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, Dubai: Champions
See also Russia women's national beach soccer team
References
External links Russia at FIFA Russia at BSWW Russia at Beach Soccer Russia