1997 Beach Soccer World Championships

The 1997 Beach Soccer World Championships was the third edition of the Beach Soccer World Championships, the most prestigious competition in international beach soccer contested by men's national teams until 2005, when the competition was then replaced by the second iteration of a world cup in beach soccer, the better known FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.^[1] It was organised by Brazilian sports agency Koch Tavares (one of the founding partners of Beach Soccer Worldwide).

1997 Beach Soccer World Championships

III Beach Soccer World Championships
Tournament details
Host country	Brazil
Dates	January 14–19
Teams	8 (from 4 confederations)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Brazil (3rd title)
Runners-up	Uruguay
Third place	United States
Fourth place	Argentina
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	141 (8.81 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Júnior Venancio Ramos (11 goals)
Best player(s)	Júnior
Best goalkeeper	Paulo Sérgio
← 1996 1998 →

For the third consecutive time, the tournament took place at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Hosts Brazil won the tournament for the third time in a row by beating Uruguay 5–2 in what was a repeat of the final in the previous edition. It was also the first and only time in the history of the world cup that no European nations finished in the top four.

Future champions France and Portugal both competed for the first time at this edition, as did the first Asian nation, Japan.

Organisation

The organisation remained the same as the format established during the championship's inception in 1995; the eight participating nations competed in two groups of four teams in a round robin format. The top two teams progressed straight to the semi-finals from which point on the championship was played as a knock-out tournament until a winner was crowned with an additional match to determine third place.

The capacity of the arena used for this edition of the World Championships was scaled down from the 12,000 seats available in the two previous events, to 7,000 for this year's tournament.^[2]

Teams

Africa and Oceania were unrepresented.

Asian Zone (1):  Japan1 European Zone (3):  France1  Italy  Portugal1 North American Zone (1):  United States

South American Zone (2):  Argentina  Uruguay Hosts:  Brazil (South America) Notes: 1. Teams making their debut

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	3	3	0	0	27	8	+19	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	United States	3	2	0	1	12	11	+1	6
3	Portugal	3	1	0	2	14	18	–4	3
4	Japan	3	0	0	3	5	21	–16	0

January 14, 1997

Brazil	12–3	Japan

Copacabana beach

January 14, 1997

United States	7–5	Portugal

Copacabana beach

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January 15, 1997

Brazil	10–2	Portugal

Copacabana beach

January 15, 1997

United States	2–1	Japan

Copacabana beach

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January 16, 1997

Brazil	5–3	United States

Copacabana beach

January 16, 1997

Portugal	7–1	Japan

Copacabana beach

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uruguay	3	2	0	1	16	15	+1	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Argentina	3	2	0	1	10	8	+2	6
3	Italy	3	1	0	2	12	11	+1	3
4	France	3	1	0	2	7	10	–3	3

January 14, 1997

Uruguay	5–4	Argentina

Copacabana beach

January 14, 1997

Italy	4–1	France

Copacabana beach

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January 15, 1997

France	5–4	Uruguay

Copacabana beach

January 15, 1997

Argentina	3–2	Italy

Copacabana beach

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January 16, 1997

Argentina	3–1	France

Copacabana beach

January 16, 1997

Uruguay	7–6	Italy

Copacabana beach

Knockout stage

Semi-finals

January 18, 1997

Uruguay	4–4 (a.e.t.)	United States
Penalties
	2–1

Copacabana beach

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January 18, 1997

Brazil	14–3	Argentina

Copacabana beach

Third place play-off

January 19, 1997

United States	5–1	Argentina

Copacabana beach

Final

January 19, 1997

Brazil	5–2	Uruguay
Júnior 6', 13' Magal ?', 15' Edinho 19'	Report	3', 36' Ramos

Copacabana beach

Attendance: 7,000

Winners

1997 Beach Soccer World Championships champions
Brazil Third title

Awards

Top scorers
Júnior	Venancio Ramos
11 goals
Best player
Júnior
Best goalkeeper
Paulo Sérgio

Final standings

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	W+	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	B	Brazil	5	5	0	0	46	13	+33	15	Champions
2	A	Uruguay	5	2	1	2	22	24	−2	8	Runners-up
3	B	United States	5	3	0	2	21	16	+5	9	Third place
4	A	Argentina	5	2	0	3	14	27	−13	6	Fourth place
5	A	Italy	3	1	0	2	12	11	+1	3	Eliminated in the group stage
6	B	Portugal	3	1	0	2	14	18	−4	3
7	A	France	3	1	0	2	7	11	−4	3
8	B	Japan	3	0	0	3	5	21	−16	0

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