The AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Asia, contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the sport's version of the better known AFC Asian Cup in association football.
The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions; the tournament also acts as the qualification route for Asian nations to the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2009; the World Cup then became biennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit. Iran are the most successful nation with four titles.
History The championship was established in 2006 by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) under the title, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup AFC qualifier;FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015 - AFC Qualifier Qatar . Beach Soccer Worldwide. Retrieved 20 October 2020. after FIFA made it a requirement for all confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national team(s) in their region who would proceed to represent their continent in the upcoming World Cup (previously, nations were simply invited to play, without having to earn their place). BSWW organised the first six editions. During this time it also became informally known by the misnomer, the AFC Beach Soccer Championship.See the following for examples: ; ; ; ; ; .
In 2015, the Asia's governing body for football, the AFC adopted the competition and branded it using its informal title in an official capacity; they jointly organised that year's edition with BSWW.FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015 – AFC Qualifier Qatar Regulations. Asian Football Confederation. 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2020. Since 2017, the AFC have been sole organisers.AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2017 Competition Regulations. Asian Football Confederation. 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2020. For 2021, the competition was renamed as the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, bringing it in line with the naming of other AFC senior national tournaments.
Results For all tournaments, the top three teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (except for 2009, when only the top two teams qualified as one of the AFC spots was automatically given to the World Cup hosts, United Arab Emirates).
#Year Location Final Third place play-off TeamsWinnersScoreRunners-upThird placeScoreFourth place12006 details Dubai, United Arab Emirates5–36–4622007 details Dubai, United Arab Emirates4–36–0632008 details Dubai, United Arab Emirates4–34–1642009 details Dubai, United Arab Emirates4–21–1 752011 details Muscat, Oman2–16–21162013 details Doha, Qatar6–6 3–21672015 details Doha, Qatar1–1 8–31482017 details Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia7–26–31292019 details Pattaya, Thailand2–2 2–2 15 –2021 details Phuket, ThailandCanceled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Teams to play at the World Cup handpicked by the AFC. –102023 details Pattaya, Thailand6–04–216112025 details Pattaya, Thailand8–13–116122026 details Pattaya, Thailand 12
Teams reaching the top four TeamTitlesRunners-upThird placeFourth placeTotal 4 (2013, 2017, 2023, 2025) – 5 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2015) 1 (2009)103 (2009, 2011, 2019) 6 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2023) 2 (2017, 2025) –112 (2007*, 2008*) 2 (2017, 2019) 1 (2013) 2 (2011, 2023)7 1 (2015) 2 (2011*, 2025) 3 (2009, 2019, 2023) –61 (2006) 1 (2009) – 1 (2007)3 – – – 2 (2006, 2008)2 – – – 2 (2015, 2017)2 – – – 1 (2013)1 – – – 1 (2019)1 – – – 1 (2025)1
Summary (2006–2025) RankTeamPartMWWEWPLGFGAGDPoints11155401212289137+15212421153391112334129+20512031046320113196129+879748402804817797+808851043211219136145-96761142121227119182–6340762510101410689+1732831471064852–8239620710125568–132310621500167294–221511518410135385–3214122830142524+11013516401115572–171314618211144893–4591531450183860–221616415300124283–419171310021121–10318414100133085–553192601051726–9220250005823–15021130003619–130222600061240–280233910081964–453243900091390–770250000000000
Points: W = 3 points / WE = 2 points / WP = 1 points / L = 0 points
Awards By category YearTop goalscorer(s)GlsBest playerBest goalkeeperFair playRef. 2006 Takeshi Kawaharazuka9 Abdullah Omar Hamed Ghorbanpourrowspan=7 2007 Farid Boulokbashi Bakhit Alabadla Mohamed Al Mazam 2008 Shusei Yamauchi12 Rami Al Mesaabi Shingo Terukina 2009 Moslem Mesigar Yaqoob Al Nesuf Tomoya Ginoza 2011 Takeshi Kawaharazuka Ishaq Al-Qassmi8 Yahya Al Araimi Shingo Terukina 2013 Moslem Mesigar11 Ozu Moreira Simon Jaeger 2015 Takasuke Goto8 Ozu Moreira Peyman Hosseini 2017 Mohammadali Mokhtari12 Mohammadali Mokhtarirowspan=2 2019 Ozu Moreira9 Ozu Moreira 2023 Takuya Akaguma11 Moslem Mesigar Mahdi Mirjalili 2025 Ali Mirshekari12 Ali Mirshekari Mahdi Mirjalili
By nationality RankTeamAwards11321234435261
Team of the tournament Since 2017, the competition's Technical Study Group have produced a post-tournament report including a dream and reserve "team of the tournament". YearDream teamReserve teamRef. 2017 Shingo Terukina (GK) Ozu Moreira (DF) Ahmed Beshr (DF) Mohammad Ahmadzadeh (FW) Mohammadali Mokhtari (FW) Peyman Hosseini (GK) Hassan Abdollahi (DF) Ali Karim (MF) Takaaki Oba (MF) Mohamad Merhi (FW) 2019 Mohamed Abdulla (GK) Ozu Moreira (DF) Waleed Beshr (DF) Yahya Abyoua (FW) Shusei Yamauchi (FW) Shingo Terukina (GK) Maisara Alawwab (DF) Mushel Hilal (DF) Walid Mohammad (DF) Takuya Akaguma (FW) 2023 Mahdi Mirjalili (GK) Ozu Moreira (DF) Moslem Mesigar (FW) Takuya Akaguma (FW) Khalid Al Oraimi (FW) Shinya Shibamoto (GK) Ali Mohammadi (DF) Mohammadali Mokhtari (FW) Sami Al Balushi (FW) Ali Mirshekari (FW)
Appearances and performance timeline The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the AFC Beach Soccer Championship and how many appearances they each have made.
Legend
– Champions – Runners-up – Third place – Fourth place 5th–16th – Fifth to sixteenth place
Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament × – Did not enter •• – Entered but withdrew – Hosts Apps – No. of appearances
Timeline 2006 (6) 2007 (6) 2008 (6) 2009 (7) 2011 (11) 2013 (16) 2015 (14) 2017 (12) 2019 (15) 2023 (16) 2025 (16) 2026 (12) Apps × × × × •• 11th × 6th 12th 13th 16th 5 × × × 5th × 4th × × × × × 2 1st 4th × 2nd 6th 9th 7th 5th 6th 6th 8th 10 4th 5th 4th 7th 5th 7th 6th 12th 9th 7th 12th 11 × 6th × × × × × × × × 15th 2 × × × × 11th × × × × 16th 11th 3 3rd 3rd 3rd 4th 3rd 1st 3rd 1st 7th 1st 1st 11 × × × × 9th 10th 12th 9th 13th × 14th 6 2nd 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd 11 × × × × 10th × 9th × 11th 8th 9th 5 × × × × × × × × 15th 14th × 2 × × × × × × 10th × × × × 1 × × × × × 8th 4th 4th 5th 10th 7th 6 × × × × × × × 8th 8th 15th 10th 4 × × × 3rd 2nd 5th 1st 7th 3rd 3rd 2nd 8 × × × × •• 6th •• × 4th 11th × 3 6th × 6th × × 16th × × × × × 3 × × × × •• 15th 14th 11th 14th × × 4 × × × × × 12th × × × 9th 4th 3 × × × × 8th × × × × × × 1 × × × × × 13th 13th 10th 10th 5th 5th 6 5th 1st 1st × 4th 3rd 5th 2nd 2nd 4th 6th 10 × × 5th 6th 7th 14th 8th •• × 12th × 6 × × × × × × 11th × × × 13th 2
Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup
The following is a performance timeline of the AFC teams who have appeared in the Beach Soccer World Cup since being sanctioned by FIFA in 2005.
Legend
– Champions – Runners-up – Third place – Fourth place – Hosts
QF – Quarter-finals R1 – Round 1 (group stage) q – Qualified for upcoming tournament Total – Total times qualified for World Cup
Team \ Years 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 Total QF R1 2 R1 R1 R1 R1 QF QF 3rd 3rd QF 9 4th QF R1 R1 QF R1 QF QF R1 4th 2nd QF QF 13 R1 R1 R1 R1 R1 R1 6 R1 1 R1 R1 R1 R1 R1 R1 R1 QF 8
Notes
See also Beach soccer at the Asian Beach Games AFF Beach Soccer Championship WAFF Beach Soccer Championship AFC Futsal Asian Cup
References
External links , the-AFC.com