CAF Beach Soccer Championship
| Founded | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Region | Africa (CAF) |
| Number of teams | 8 (finals) 20 (in qualifying) |
| Current champions |
 Senegal(4th title) |
| Most successful team(s) |
Senegal (4 titles) |
The Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (previously known as the CAF Beach Soccer Championship prior to 2016) is the main international championship for beach soccer in Africa, mirroring that of the Africa Cup of Nations in association football, aiming to crown the best nation on the continent. Also referred to as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for CAF, the championship was established in 2006 after FIFA made requirements for all confederations to begin holding a qualification tournament to determine the best national team(s) in the region and hence those who would proceed to represent their continent in the forthcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Therefore, since the World Cup takes place every two years, so does the championship.
Africa was awarded two spots at the finals under FIFA's new changes to the organisation of the World Cup and hence the winners and runners-up of the championship qualify to the succeeding World Cup finals. Before 2006, there was no consistent method of qualification or number of spots at the World Cup for African nations, with countries often simply being invited to play in the finals, without competing for a regional title beforehand.
Organisation of the championship had previously all but been the responsibility of Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), however, after minimal input in preceding editions, in 2015 CAF made a commitment to extensively increase their involvement in the organisation of the championship. This saw mass expansion, with CAF establishing a qualification phase taking place first to determine the elite eight nations to compete in the finals of the championship itself, as opposed to automatic entry as in the past, causing a surge in the number of teams participating. This involvement lead to CAF referring to the tournament as the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations to which it was officially renamed for the 2016 event.
Preparing for the 2017 edition, CAF announced that, since three major CAF competitions are held in odd years already, the tournament would be changing to be held in even years henceforth, starting with 2016.
The most successful nation is Senegal, who have won the tournament three of the seven times, and have qualified for the World Cup five times.
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