2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
The official logo of the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
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| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Brazil |
| Dates | 2–12 November 2006 |
| Teams | 16 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Brazil (10th title)
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| Runners-up |
 Uruguay
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| Third place |
 France
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| Fourth place |
 Portugal
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| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 286 (8.94 per match) |
| Attendance | 179,800 (5,619 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Madjer (21 goals) |
| Best player |
Madjer
|
| Fair play award |
France
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The 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Previous editions before 2005 were not governed by FIFA and were held under the title Beach Soccer World Championships. Overall this was the twelfth edition of the World Cup since its establishment in 1995. It took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2–12 November 2006. The winners of the tournament were hosts Brazil, who won their first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup title and their tenth title overall.
After the 2005 World Cup, beach soccer continued to grow and spread worldwide at a fast rate. Therefore, FIFA established the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers, to try to allow more nations to play in the World Cup, as well as getting more national teams involved in the sport. FIFA also increased the number of participating teams in the World Cup from 12 to a record-high 16 teams. This also meant that nations would no longer be invited to play in the World Cup but would have to qualify.
With the establishment of the qualifying rounds, FIFA decided to standardise each World Cup, meaning that from this World Cup onwards, each confederation would have the same number of teams participating in each World Cup and that the 16 teams would be split up into four groups of four teams, with the top two teams moving on to the quarter finals.
African nations were allocated 2 berths at the World Cup. The championship took place between September 28 and September 30, 2006. Cameroon and Nigeria were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup. Cameroon defeated Nigeria in the final to win the title.
Asian nations were allocated 3 berths at the World Cup. The championship took place between May 22 and May 26, 2006. Bahrain and Japan were the two finalists, meaning they both qualified for the World Cup. Bahrain defeated Japan in the final to win the title. Iran and China were knocked out in the semi finals and played each other in the third place play off. Iran beat China to claim the third berth at the World Cup.
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