Host country Brazil Venue(s) 1 (in 1 host city) Runners-up France Start date 2001 Teams 12 Matches played 20 | Dates 11 – 18 February Champions Portugal (1st title) Fourth place Brazil Best player Hernâni Neves Goals scored 144 | |
Champion Portugal national beach soccer team Third place Argentina national beach soccer team | ||
The 2001 Beach Soccer World Championship was the seventh edition of the Beach Soccer World Championships, the most prestigious competition in international beach soccer contested by men's national teams, organised by Koch Tavares in a supervising partnership with the newly formed Beach Soccer Worldwide, which ultimately came under the control of FIFA in 2005 and subsequently rebranded as the better known FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
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For the first time since its establishment in 1995, the tournament took place outside of Rio de Janeiro, namely at the Costa do Sauipe complex, in the state of Bahia, north of Salvador.
It was also the first time that hosts Brazil did not win the championships, finishing in fourth, as Portugal beat France in the final to claim their first title.
Organisation
The championships continued to consist of twelve teams who were split into four groups of three with the top two from each group advancing to the quarter finals.
Teams
The highest finishing European teams in the 2000 Euro Beach Soccer League and the best performing South and North American teams in the Americas' series of events qualified for the World Cup. Other nations received invites.
Asia, Africa and Oceania were unrepresented.