The 2025 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup will be the 13th edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the premier international beach soccer championship contested by men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. Overall, this will be the 23rd edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the Beach Soccer World Championships which ran from 1995 to 2004 but was not governed by FIFA; the World Cup took place annually until 2009 when it then became a biennial event.
It will take place in Victoria, capital of Seychelles, between 1 and 11 May 2025.[1] This will be the first time that Seychelles has hosted a FIFA tournament, and the first Beach Soccer World Cup to be played in Africa.
On 14 February 2022, FIFA announced that three of the five associations had submitted bids through to the final stage of the process,[4] with Colombia and Thailand withdrawing.
Confirmation of the awarding of hosting rights was due to be announced at the FIFA Council meeting in Doha, Qatar on 31 March 2022.[2] However, no announcement was made; it was then due to be awarded at its meeting in Auckland, New Zealand on 22 October 2022, but it was announced at the meeting that the decision had been deferred again until a subsequent Council meeting.[5] On 16 December 2022, the United Arab Emirates was awarded the hosting rights for the 2023 tournament, and the Seychelles for the 2025 tournament.[6]
Qualification
A total of 16 teams will qualify for the final tournament. In addition to Seychelles who qualify automatically as the host country, 15 other teams will qualify from six separate continental competitions. The slot allocation was approved by the FIFA Council on 4 October 2023.[1]
The process of qualification for the World Cup finals began in October 2024 and will end in March 2025.[7]
Note: The appearance statistics below refer only to the FIFA era of world cups in beach soccer (since 2005); see this article for the inclusion of World Championships era stats (1995–2004).
In the group stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played (one period of three minutes) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner. Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.
Tiebreakers
The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows:[citation needed]
points obtained in all group matches;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:
points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
Yellow card: −1 points;
Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
^"Meeting in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau sees key transfer system regulations approved". FIFA.com. FIFA. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022. It was also decided that four items would be presented at a subsequent FIFA Council meeting, namely the appointment of hosts for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2023, proposed amendments to the FIFA Disciplinary Code and to the FIFA Code of Ethics, and the approval of the FIFA Football Agent Regulations.
