Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations

Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations

Founded	2006 (2006)
Region	Africa (CAF)
Number of teams	8 (finals) Nº in qualifiers varies
Qualifier for	FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Current champions	Senegal (4th title)
Most successful team(s)	Senegal (4 titles)
Website	cafonline.com
2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations

The Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON) is the main championship for beach soccer in Africa,^[1] contested between senior men's national teams who are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).^[2] It is the sport's version of the better known Africa Cup of Nations in association football.

The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions;^[3] the tournament also acts as the qualification route for African nations to the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.^[2] 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.

The championship was established in 2006 when FIFA made it a requirement for all confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national team(s) in their region and hence those 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).^[4] FIFA currently allocate Africa two berths at the World Cup^[5] and hence the top two teams (the winners and the runners-up) qualify to the World Cup finals.^[6]

Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) originally organised the competition^[7] under the title FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier^[8] (also known informally as the CAF Beach Soccer Championship).^[9] Despite historically having minimal input (often only sending delegates),^[10] CAF became lead organisers in 2015,^[11] establishing a qualification phase to determine the elite eight nations to compete in the tournament finals. CAF also began using the BSAFCON title to which the competition was officially renamed for the next edition,^[12] scheduled for 2017. However, CAF later announced that since three of its competitions were already held in odd-numbered years, the tournament would now be held in even-numbered years henceforth to desaturate the calendar, starting with 2016.^[13]

Senegal are the most successful nation having won the event four times and are also the current champions. In terms of success in qualifying to the World Cup, again Senegal are the most outstanding nation, having qualified in six out of eight attempts. Nigeria follow closely behind, with five qualifications.

Results

For all tournaments, the top two teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Year	Location		Final				Third place match
			Champions	Score	Runners-Up		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier (CAF Beach Soccer Championship)
2006 details	Durban, South Africa		Cameroon	5 – 3	Nigeria		Egypt	8 – 3	Ivory Coast
2007 details	Durban, South Africa		Nigeria	6 – 5	Senegal		Ivory Coast	2 – 0	South Africa
2008 details	Durban, South Africa		Senegal	12 – 6	Cameroon		Ivory Coast	6 – 3	Egypt
2009 details	Durban, South Africa		Nigeria	7 – 4	Ivory Coast		Senegal	6 – 4	Egypt
2011 details	Casablanca, Morocco		Senegal	7 – 4	Nigeria		Egypt	4 – 4 (a.e.t.) 1–0 (p)	Madagascar
2013 details	El Jadida, Morocco		Senegal	4 – 1	Ivory Coast		Morocco	7 – 2	Nigeria
Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations
2015 details	Roche Caiman, Seychelles		Madagascar	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 1–0 (p)	Senegal		Nigeria	9 – 1	Ivory Coast
2016 details	Lagos, Nigeria		Senegal	8 – 4	Nigeria		Egypt	4 – 1	Morocco
2018 details	Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Performance

Successful nations

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third Place	Fourth Place		Total top 4
Senegal	4 (2008, 2011, 2013, 2016)	2 (2007, 2015)	1 (2009)	–		7
Nigeria	2 (2007, 2009)	3 (2006, 2011, 2016*)	1 (2015)	1 (2013)		7
Cameroon	1 (2006)	1 (2008)	–	–		2
Madagascar	1 (2015)	–	–	1 (2011)		2
Ivory Coast	–	2 (2009, 2013)	2 (2007, 2008)	2 (2006, 2015)		6
Egypt	–	–	3 (2006, 2011, 2016)	2 (2008, 2009)		5
Morocco	–	–	1 (2013*)	1 (2016)		2
South Africa	–	–	–	1 (2007*)		1

* = Hosts

Overall standings

As of 2016

Pos	Team	App	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Avg. Pts
1	Senegal	7	33	24	1	1	7	192	120	+72	75	2.27
2	Nigeria	8	35	21	2	1	11	215	148	+67	68	1.94
3	Ivory Coast	8	35	15	1	4	15	156	154	+2	51	1.46
4	Egypt	8	34	14	1	2	17	152	137	+15	46	1.35
5	Morocco	6	24	12	0	0	12	110	94	+16	36	1.5
6	Madagascar	4	17	7	1	2	7	85	70	+15	24	1.41
7	Cameroon	3	12	6	0	1	5	55	55	0	19	1.58
8	South Africa	5	15	4	0	0	11	60	65	–5	12	0.8
9	Ghana	3	12	2	0	0	10	48	76	–28	6	0.5
10	Cape Verde	2	7	1	0	1	5	22	46	–24	4	0.57
11	Mozambique	3	9	1	0	1	7	25	59	–34	4	0.44
12	Algeria	1	3	1	0	0	2	14	19	–5	3	1
13	Mauritius	1	2	0	0	0	2	3	23	–20	0	0
14	Seychelles	1	5	0	0	0	5	6	34	–28	0	0
15	Libya	4	11	0	0	0	11	46	79	–43	0	0

Key: Appearances App / Won in Normal Time W = 3 Points / Won in Extra Time W+ = 2 Points / Won in Penalty shoot-out WP = 1 Point / Lost L = 0 Points

Appearances & performance timeline

The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations and how many appearances they each have made.

Legend

1st – Champions 2nd – Runners-up 3rd – Third place 4th – Fourth place 5th–9th – Fifth to ninth place1 R1 – Round 1 (group stage)    – Hosts

Apps – No. of appearances × – Did not enter ×× – Entered qualifying but withdrew2 • – Did not qualify2 •• – Qualified but withdrew2 q – Qualified for upcoming tournament

Team \ Years	2006 (6)	2007 (8)	2008 (8)	2009 (9)	2011 (9)	2013 (8)	2015 (8)	2016 (8)	2018 (8)		Apps
Algeria	×	×	×	×	6th	×	×	×	×		1
Cameroon	1st	R1	2nd	×	×	×	××	×	×		3
Cape Verde	×	6th	R1	×	×	×	×	•	×		2
Ivory Coast	4th	3rd	3rd	2nd	7th	2nd	4th	6th	q		9
Egypt	3rd	5th	4th	4th	3rd	R1	6th	3rd	q		9
Ghana	×	×	×	×	×	R1	7th	7th	×		3
Libya	×	×	×	R1	8th	R1	××	8th	q		5
Madagascar	×	×	×	×	4th	R1	1st	5th	q		5
Mauritius	×	×	×	R1	×	×	•	×	×		1
Morocco	6th	×	×	5th	5th	3rd	5th	4th	q		7
Mozambique	×	R1	R1	6th	×	×	•	•	•		3
Nigeria	2nd	1st	R1	1st	2nd	4th	3rd	2nd	q		9
Senegal	×	2nd	1st	3rd	1st	1st	2nd	1st	q		8
Seychelles	×	×	×	×	×	×	8th	×	×		1
South Africa	5th	4th	R1	R1	9th	×	•	×	××		5
Tanzania	×	×	×	×	×	×	•	•	q		1

Superscript key

1. In 2006, 2011, 2015 & 2016 there were placement matches to decide all final rankings, unlike other years.

2. A preliminary qualifying round was introduced from 2015 onwards.

Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The following is a performance timeline of the CAF teams who have gone on to appear in the World Cup, having successfully qualified from the above events (since mandatory qualification began in 2006).

Legend

1st – Champions 2nd – Runners-up 3rd – Third place 4th – 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	2006	2007	2008	2009	2011	2013	2015	2017	2019	Total
Cameroon	R1		R1							2
Ivory Coast				R1		R1				2
Madagascar							R1			1
Nigeria	R1	QF		R1	QF			R1		5
Senegal		QF	R1		QF	R1	R1	QF		6
Total no. of unique qualifiers										5

References

External links

• Confederation of African Football, official website
• Beach Soccer Worldwide, official website.