Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

's derivative sport of

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was a ...

. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is known today having been officially founded in late 2000 as a singular institution to develop the sport and organise international beach soccer competitions across the globe, primarily between national teams. The company is recognised as playing the biggest role in helping to establish the rules of beach soccer, to spread and evolve the sport around the world as cited by FIFA who took on governing body status of the sport from BSWW in 2005. Having established the sport's key regulations, FIFA acknowledged BSWW's framework, making their rules the official laws of beach soccer and now controls them and any modifications. Today, under the recognition of FIFA, BSWW continues to be main organisation that organises beach soccer tournaments and development (with FIFA's assistance) around the world, mainly in Europe, including the Euro Beach Soccer League, BSWW exhibition tour events and others, having involved over 110 national teams in the sport, as well as newly founded club competitions. Its founders also established the

Beach Soccer World Championships The Beach Soccer World Championships was the premier international beach soccer competition contested by men's national teams between 1995 and 2004. It was replaced by the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The tournament took place annually in Brazi ...

; BSWW created a partnership with

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, ''FIFA Beach Soccer S.L.'', in 2005 to manage the tournament as the newly named

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the ''Beach Soccer World Champions ...

, the only major international beach soccer tournament that BSWW does not have a hand in organising but which is all the management of FIFA. Members of the organisation serve on FIFA's Beach Soccer Committee.

History

Founding

BSWW's routes are traced back to 1992 with the establishment of the official rules of the sport by Giancarlo Signorini, the founding partner of ''Beach Soccer Company (BSC)''. In 1992, Signorini staged a pilot event in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in order to test out and perfect these rules which remain very similar today. In July 1993, with the aid of his own company, BSI, Signorini organised the first professional beach soccer event, held on

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. A keen interest was taken by Brazilian sports marketing agency, Koch Tavares, who replicated the event in 1994 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and Viking Graham Sports Group, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

based investment group, acquired BSI's rights to stage professional beach soccer events, forming a partnership with Signorini to create ''Beach Soccer Company''. Koch Tavares and BSC went on to be the main two entities involved in promoting beach soccer for the rest of the 1990s, with the former responsible for organising the ''Beach Soccer World Championships'' beginning in 1995, and the latter establishing the '' Pro Beach Soccer Tour'' in 1996, a series of worldwide professional exhibition tournaments to promote the sport, and the ''

European Pro Beach Soccer League The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer contested between European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in ...

'' in 1998, all contested between national teams as opposed to clubs. BSC relocated to

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

in 1998 and again to Barcelona in 1999, renaming to become ''Pro Beach Soccer, S.L. (PBS)'' in 2000 to reflect the branding of their established events. In October 2000, the entity of Koch Tavares responsible for beach soccer and PBS came together to register one single company in order to streamline development of the sport under one unifying company, as opposed to multiple parties involved trying to synchronise progress between one another, officially forming Beach Soccer Worldwide, opting to remain based in Barcelona. Starting with the 2001 season, BSWW took on roles of organising all major competitions of the preceding companies including the Pro Beach Soccer Tour and

, whilst supervising the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and the newly created America's League, all remaining focused on national teams. This was also done to make it easier to bring on board sponsors, coordinate media coverage and present the football alternative to FIFA under a clearly defined, all-encompassing, representative body for beach soccer.

FIFA partnership

BSWW's attention immediately turned to FIFA. Beach Soccer Company had already ensured all tournaments from 2000 onwards were played under FIFA's fair play rules and delegates from both parties met multiple times to discuss for BSWW's rules of the sport and competitions to gain recognition and backing of football's governing body. By 2002, FIFA had come to an agreement with BSWW to adopt the rules and regulations that had been established over the previous decade, with some minor changes to ensure FIFA's interest in key components of regular football were respected and acknowledging key major tournaments in the sport including the World Championships. During this time, BSWW also brought on board major sponsors such as MasterCard,

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

for certain time period. The involvement with FIFA was furthered in 2004 when ''FIFA Beach Soccer S.L.'' was established in agreement and partnership with BSWW, to take over responsibility of the World Championships, being beach soccer's primary tournament, to become an official FIFA competition. The newly named ''FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup'' would start in 2005, with BSWW staff acting as advisers. It was also agreed that FIFA would become the sport's governing body, taking over from BSWW. However at this time FIFA also recognised BSWW as the main entity behind past and more importantly continuing promotion and development of the sport elsewhere besides the new World Cup, and so BSWW retained the organisation responsibilities and control of other beach soccer championships like the EBSL, with FIFA only taking full control of the World Cup. So much so that after the first successful World Cup in 2005, when FIFA established World Cup qualifying tournaments to promote the sport across all confederations to start in 2006, all responsibility was handed to BSWW to organise and execute such events, with FIFA only supervising.

Continued development

Since then, BSWW has continued to develop the sport worldwide, now aided greatly with FIFA's beach soccer training courses and refereeing. The Euro Beach Soccer League (dropping the ''pro'' from the title in 2004 as it was no longer reflecting of the company name) has remained BSWW's main asset, gathering up to 27 nations to compete in recent editions compared to just 7 in the first event in 1998 in a summer-long event. The Pro Beach Soccer Tour has also been renamed to the BSWW Tour for the same reasons, continuing exhibition events to promote the sport as far wide and remote as

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island o ...

and

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

with around 10 tour events a year. BSWW has continued organising the World Cup qualifiers, as well as establishing new regular international competitions such as the Intercontinental Cup (similar to the

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

) since 2011 and generating more interest from big sponsors like

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

and

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various sma ...

. BSWW representatives, in partnership with FIFA, have liaised with the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

a number of times, with Olympic-affiliated events such as the

Asian Beach Games The Asian Beach Games, also known as ABG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The Games are described as the second or third largest ...

integrating beach soccer from 2008 onward, the South American Beach Games from 2009 and the

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from European nations and several transcontinental countries. The Games were envisioned and are governed by the European Olympic Committees ...

starting from 2015. The ultimate aim is to have beach soccer a sport in the

summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

. But despite a campaign for inclusion in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics., the sport was ultimately not included and so lobbying in cooperation with FIFA continues, to ultimately fulfil the goal of making beach soccer an Olympic sport. In 2017, BSWW secured beach soccer as a sport at the inaugural Olympic-affiliated World Beach Games in 2019 and hope to use its inclusion as a springboard for future absorption into the Summer Olympics. More recently, a greater involvement from certain confederations in organising World Cup qualifying championships has eased the full involvement of BSWW, allowing the federation to promote the club side of the game more, establishing the Mundialito de Clubs (Club World Cup) in 2011 and the

Euro Winners Cup The Euro Winners Cup (EWC) is an annual, continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) from ...

(similar to the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

) in 2013. Development of the women's game has also become a target for BSWW, with the first official game between Switzerland and Germany in 2009, promoting further international exhibition tournaments and friendlies involving nations such as England, Italy and the Czech Republic, with the Euro Winners Cup having a 16-club women's version for the first time in 2016 and the first Women's

Euro Beach Soccer Cup The Euro Beach Soccer Cup (EBSC), originally known as the ''European Pro Beach Soccer Championships'' until 2004, was a biennial (previously annual) beach soccer competition contested between European men's national teams, organised by Beach Socce ...

also taking place in 2016. BSWW has organised and delivered over 200 international events in more than 50 countries worldwide, involving over 110 nations from all confederations, assembling an audience of over 250 million households in 180 countries. Vice-president Joan Cuscó continues to serve on FIFA's Beach Soccer committee as BSWW's representative. In 2017, BSWW and FIFA agreed to extend their partnership until at least 2024.

Identity

Flag

Stars awards

It has been standard practice for BSWW to award prizes to the top scorer, MVP and best goalkeeper at the conclusion every event of their organisation. However, in 2014, BSWW took this concept of awards to a new level, establishing beach soccer's first annual end of season awards ceremony, taking place during November in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

. The ceremony, a gala event attended by many of the world's leading figures in the sport, celebrates the achievements of top performers worldwide over the course of the season and has been compared to FIFA's The Best awards and the

Ballon D'or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

, in both importance, grandeur and equivalence for the those involved in beach soccer. Some of the many prizes awarded on the night include best player of the year, best coach of the year, best goal and best team.

BSWW structured tournaments

BSWW organises and has an input in many different competitions; the following are regular events that are ongoing: Advisory role: *

Considerable input, with involvement from confederations, under the supervision of FIFA: * AFC Beach Soccer Championship * Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations * CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship *

CONMEBOL Beach Soccer Championship The CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (natively in Spanish: ''Eliminatorias CONMEBOL al Mundial de la FIFA de Fútbol Playa''), also previously known as the ''South American Beach Soccer Championship'' (Spanish: ''Sudamerican ...

OFC Beach Soccer Championship The OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Oceania, contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). It is the sport's version of the better known OFC ...

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers (UEFA) * Euro Beach Soccer League *

(formerly) * Intercontinental Cup * Mundialito * Multiple

BSWW Tour The BSWW Tour is a series of international events in beach soccer. It is organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), an organization responsible for promotion and development of beach soccer sport. BSWW Tour is an international exhibition tour in be ...

exhibition tournaments per year *

Persian Beach Soccer Cup The Persian Beach Soccer Cup is an international beach soccer tournament which is held in Bushehr, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered b ...

Mundialito de Clubes The Mundialito de Clubes ( en, link=yes, Club World Cup) is an international club beach soccer competition contested between top men's clubs from around the world. The tournament is loosely similar to the FIFA Club World Cup in association footbal ...

Women's Euro Winners Cup The Women's Euro Winners Cup (WEWC) is an annual continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European women's teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more r ...

Affiliation only: *

World Beach Games The ANOC World Beach Games, known simply as the ''World Beach Games'', is an international multi-sport event organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). The games are held biennially in odd-numbered years, with a focus on ...

* Mediterranean Beach Games * South American Beach Games *

African Beach Games The African Beach Games is a continental multi-sport event held among athletes from the Africa. The Games are organised under the governance of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA). The Games were announced by the ANOCA ...

Current title holders

Rankings

BSWW established a ranking system for European teams in the mid-2000s as the majority of tournaments are held in Europe and it is the most active continent for national teams. Hence the ranking was used for seeding in competitions like the EBSL. However, in 2014, BSWW created the first world ranking table based on a similar system to FIFA's world ranking for association football national teams.

Foundation

Beach Soccer Worldwide extends its commitment beyond purely sport development. In 2009, the Beach Soccer Foundation was created by BSWW to tackle three main issues surrounding the sport: * Environmental protection through awareness and recycling * The development of children and young people through sport * Awareness and prevention of

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

References

External links

*
Beach Soccer Worldwide
on Facebook
Beach Soccer Worldwide
on Twitter
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
on FIFA {{International Beach Soccer Worldwide International sports organizations Organisations based in Barcelona Sports organizations established in 2001