Host country Brazil Venue(s) 1 (in 1 host city) Runners-up Portugal | Dates 8 May – 15 May Champions France (1st title) | |
Teams 12 (from 6 confederations) | ||
The 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the first edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, an international beach soccer competition contest by men's national teams and organized by FIFA. Overall, it was the 11th edition of the tournament since its establishment in 1995 as the Beach Soccer World Championship. It took place in at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 8 and 15 May.
Contents
France defeated Portugal 1–0 in a penalty shootout, following a 3–3 draw after extra-time, to win their first title.
Organisation
The 12 teams present at the finals in Brazil were split into four groups of three teams. Each team played the other two teams in its group in a round-robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final itself was played in the form of a knockout tournament.
Qualification
European teams gained qualification by finishing in the top three spots of the 2004 Euro Beach Soccer League. The final spot was contested between the next four best teams in a small knockout tournament a few days before the World Cup began which saw Spain win. South American and North American qualification was gained by finishing in the top spots of the 2005 CONCACAF and CONMEBOL Beach Soccer Championship. The other nations received invites.
This was the first edition of the World Cup in which every continent had a representative.
Entrants
Notes:
Group stage
All matches are listed as local time in Rio de Janeiro, (UTC-3)