The 2016 Copa América of Beach Soccer (known natively in Spanish as the Copa América de Futbol Playa) was the first edition of the Copa América of Beach Soccer, the premier international beach soccer competition in South America, contested between the men's national teams of the members of CONMEBOL.
The competition was organised by CONMEBOL; other beach soccer exhibition events held under the Copa América title took place during 1994–99, 2003 and 2012–14, however this was the first edition to be officially organised by the governing body for South American football who also organise the other official Copa América events in association football and futsal.
The tournament was hosted by Brazil in the city of Santos between 13 and 18 December.
Brazil beat Paraguay 12–2 in the final to claim the inaugural crown.
Teams Teams representing all 10 members of CONMEBOL took part.
Venue
One venue was used in the city of Santos, Brazil. An arena built on the Praia do Gonzaga (Gonzaga beach) hosted all the matches.
Referees Fourteen officials were appointed by CONMEBOL on 17 November, instructed to arrive in Santos by 11 December.
Mariano Romo Jose Mendoza Ivo De Moraes Renato De Carlos Carlos Rumiano Juan Carlos Amaya Fabricio Quintero Jose Cortez Jorge Luis Martinez Mike Palomino Alex Valdiviezo Pablo Cadenasso Carlos Aguirregaray Jose Gregorio Misel
Draw The draw to split the ten teams into two groups of five took place on 26 November in Luque, Paraguay at the Auditorio de la Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol.
The teams were seeded based on their final ranking in the most recent previous CONMEBOL beach soccer tournament, the 2015 South American Beach Soccer Championship.
Initially, the top two seeds were automatically assigned to the groups:
to Group A: as the top seeds, to Group B: as the second seeds,
The remaining eight teams were split into four pots of two based on their seeding, in order from the highest seeds placed in Pot 1, down to the lowest seeds placed in Pot 4. From each pot, one team was drawn into Group A and the other team was drawn into Group B. Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Group stage Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top team of each group, advance to the final. The teams finishing in second through fifth proceed to play in consolation matches against the teams finishing in the same position in the other group to determine their final rank.
All times are local, BRST (UTC−2).
Group A
Group B
Final stage Ninth place play-off
Seventh place play-off
Fifth place play-off
Third place play-off
Final
Awards Winners trophy
Individual awards Top scorer Alexander Vaamonde12 goalsBest player Bruno XavierBest goalkeeper Mão
Final standings RankTeamResult 1 Champions 2 Runners-up 3 Third place 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Source
References
External links Copa América de fútbol playa Brasil 2016, at CONMEBOL (in Spanish) Copa America Fútbol Playa 2016, at Beach Soccer Worldwide (archived) Copa América 2016, at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian)