The Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup is an international beach soccer tournament which is held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates every November as the finale of the competitive international beach soccer season. The invitation-only tournament was held annually from the inaugural edition in 2011 until 2022, and has been postponed since 2023.
The Intercontinental Cup has been described by the beach soccer magazine BAREFOOT as the second largest and most prestigious event on the international beach soccer circuit after only the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, featuring an exclusive assembly of the world's best national teams from each continent.
The competition bares many similarities to the FIFA Confederations Cup in association football, with each of the six confederations of FIFA (UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, CAF, AFC, OFC) represented by at least one nation, however is not so strict on entry requirements – those countries competing do not necessarily have to be regional champions, but nevertheless will still be one of the best performing nations from their confederation's most recent regional championship. The tournament hosts and reigning World Cup champions also take part, taking the total number of participants to eight.
Samsung was the lead sponsor and presenting partner of the tournament from its inception until 2016. Huawei became new lead sponsors for 2017–18. The Dubai Sports Council (DSC) and Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) organise the competition.
Russia and Iran are the most successful teams, having won four tournaments each. Iran is also the current champions.
Organisation Foundation
Dubai first hosted a beach soccer event in 2000 and since 2006, the city began holding annual events, culminating with the hosting of beach soccer's premier event in 2009, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. During 2009, Emirates and FIFA struck an agreement to have the former sponsor and fund football tournaments worldwide. In connection to this deal, Dubai was offered to host an event in either youth football, women's football or beach soccer. DSC decided on beach soccer following the success and popularity of the World Cup.
BSWW were also keen on returning beach soccer to Dubai, with Vice-president Joan Cusco claiming Dubai as beach soccer's "second most important city in this sport" save for Rio de Janeiro. After using the time in 2010 to consider how to take beach soccer forward in the city following the World Cup success, an agreement was made between BSWW and DSC in 2011 to host the new Intercontinental Cup.
It was desired by BSWW to have the tournament respect the legacy and be a celebration of the 2009 Dubai World Cup. Therefore, it was believed the idea of the competition, featuring the world's very best teams from each continent, modelled notably similarly to association football's secondary international event, the FIFA Confederations Cup, would be best suited to achieve these goals. After a successful maiden event in 2011, BSWW and DSC decided to make the tournament an annual occurrence, signing a 5-year contract in 2012.Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup Memorandum Signing In 2017, at the end of the 5-year deal, the two parties extended the existing contract to 2020.
During this time, the championship's reputation has grown quickly because of the high level of elite competition only comparable to the World Cup and, combined with the yearly presence of the championship, it has become beach soccer's most prestigious annual event (considering the fact that the World Cup is now a biannual event).
Venues
Locations of the former venues across Dubai Despite always taking place in Dubai to date, the tournament has been staged in multiple different parts of the city. 2011: The Walk, Jumeirah Beach Residence 2012: Festival City 2013–16: Dubai International Marine Club 2017: Business Bay 2018–19: Kite Beach
Format The Intercontinental Cup is a 5-day event. The eight teams are split into two groups of four. The tournament starts with the group stage, played in a round robin format, taking place during days one through three. The winners and runners-up from each group advanced to the knockout stage, in which the teams then compete in single-elimination matches, beginning with the semi-finals and ending with the final on days four and five respectively. A third-place play-off is also contested by the losing semi-finalists on day five. The third and fourth placed nations from each group play in a series of consolation matches to decide fifth through eighth place however these matches have only occurred since 2013.
Results Source:
YearHostsFinalThird place matchChampionScoreRunner-upThird placeScoreFourth place 2011Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 5–4 (a.e.t.) 4–4 (a.e.t.) (1–0 pen.) 2012Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 7–4 8–7 (a.e.t.) 2013Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 4–3 8–7 2014Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 3–2 (a.e.t.) 3–0 2015Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 5–2 2–2 (a.e.t.) (3–2 pen.) 2016Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 6–2 4–3 2017Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2–0 4–2 2018Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 4–2 5–3 2019Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 6–3 2–1 (a.e.t.) 2021Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 3–2 7–4 2022Details Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2–1 4–1
Medals (2011-2022)
Successful teams #TeamTitlesRunners-upThird placeFourth placeTotal14 (2011, 2012, 2015, 2021)3 (2013, 2014, 2018,)1 (2016)2 (2017, 2019)1024 (2013, 2018, 2019, 2022)2 (2016, 2021)2 (2015, 2017)1 (2014)933 (2014, 2016, 2017)3 (2011, 2012, 2022)1 (2018)–74–1 (2017)1 (2014)1 (2021)35–1 (2015)–1 (2016)26–1 (2019)––17––3 (2012, 2013, 2019)2 (2011, 2022)58––1 (2011)1 (2013)29––1 (2022)–1–– 1 (2021)–110–––2 (2015, 2018)211–––1 (2012)1
Success by confederation + Total times teams played by confederation AFC CAF CONCACAF CONMEBOL OFC UEFA Total Teams 27 10 10 12 5 24 88 Top 4 14 4 0 8 2 16 44 Top 2 6 0 0 6 1 9 22 1st 4 0 0 3 0 4 11 2nd 2 0 0 3 1 5 11 3rd 5 1 0 2 0 3 11 4th 3 3 0 0 1 4 11
Awards YearTop goalscorer(s)GlsBest playerBest goalkeeperRef.2011 Dejan Stankovic12 Dejan Stankovic Mão2012 Fernando DDI10 Egor Shaykov Andrey Bukhlitskiy2013 Dejan Stankovic17 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Andrey Bukhlitskiy2014 Bruno Xavier Dmitry Shishin Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Takasuke Goto6 Mão Mão2015 Mohamed Gamal9 Yury Krasheninnikov Humaid Albalooshi2016 Bruno Xavier8 Bruno Xavier Peyman Hosseini2017 Jordan Santos8 Rodrigo Mão2018 Fedor Zemskov9 Rodrigo Hamid Behzadpour2019 Amir Hossein Akbari6 Waleed Beshr Mohamad Al Jasmi2021 Chiky9 Boris Nikonorov Hamid Behzadpour2022 Carlos Carballo8 Amir Hossein Akbari Hamid Behzadpour
Total Awards (2011-2022) RankTeamNumbers110283843536,,,,1
Summary (2011-2022)
RankTeamPartMWWEWPLGFGAGDPoints11050304313250163+87101284030217233115+118953945271710182130+529041155193330172217–45665420100197579–431652310001310198+33075259101596119–232985217101386108–2223931561086664+22010420601138387–4191131351167766+111812523400196694–2812131530022924+591421030074454–109152830053646–109165233002061133–7291721021073544–98181510221718–1519130003616–100201500051427–13021150005330–270
Points: W = 3 points / WE = 2 points / WP = 1 points / L = 0 points
Performance timeline & Appearances Key
— Champions — Runners-up — Third place — Fourth place 5th–8th — Fifth to eighth place
— Did not participate — Hosts — Reigning world champions Apps — Appearances
Teams \ Years 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 Apps × × × × 8th × × × × × × 1 2nd 2nd 5th 1st × 1st 1st 3rd × × 2nd 8 × × × × 4th 6th 6th 4th 6th × × 5 × × 1st 4th 3rd 2nd 3rd 1st 1st 2nd 1st 9 × × 6th × × × × × 7th × × 2 × 7th × 7th × × × × 5th 5th 5th 5 6th × 7th × 7th × 8th × 8th × × 5 × × 8th 5th × × × × × × × 2 5th 4th × × × × × × × × × 2 7th × × × × × × × × × × 1 × × × × × × 7th × × 7th 3rd 3 × × × × × 5th × × × × × 1 × × × 3rd6th × 2nd × × 4th × 4 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 3rd 4th 2nd 4th 1st × 10 × × × × × × × × × × 8th 1 × × × × × × × × × 3rd × 1 × × × × × × × 6th 2nd 6th 7th 4 3rd 5th 4th × × × × × × × × 3 8th 6th × × 2nd 4th × 8th × × × 5 4th 3rd 3rd 6th 5th 7th 5th 7th 3rd 8th 4th 11 × 8th × 8th × 8th × 5th × × 6th 5
All-time top goalscorers As of 2022
The following table shows the all-time top 20 goalscorers. RankPlayerTeamPldGoals1 Bruno Xavier 28 4202 Dejan Stanković 13 37 3 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh 39 36 4 Dmitry Shishin 37 28 5 Yuri Krasheninnikov 45 2706 Boris Nikonorov 23 257 Alexey Makarov 35 248 Rodrigo 17 23 Ali Karim 45 10 Egor Shaykov 18 22 11 Mauricinho 24 21 Ahmed Beshr 40 13 Fernando DDI 21 20 Artur Paporotnyi 29 Mohammad Mokthari 34 Waleed Beshr 39 17 Naea Bennett 20 19 18 Anatoly Permitin 19 17 Ozu Moreira 20 Takaaki Oba 20
Sources:2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
References
External links Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup on Beach Soccer Worldwide Intercontinental Cup on Beach Soccer Russia