OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup

OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup
Organising bodyOFC
Founded2006; 18 years ago (2006)
RegionOceania
Number of teams4
Current champions Tahiti (4th title)
Most successful team(s) Solomon Islands
 Tahiti
(4 titles each)
WebsiteOFC
2024 OFC Beach Soccer Men's Nations Cup

The OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Oceania,[1] contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). It is the sport's version of the better known OFC Nations Cup in association football.

The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions; the tournament also acts as the qualification route for Oceanian nations to the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup[2] and is therefore also known as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup OFC qualifier.[3] 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.[2]

The championship was established in 2006 after 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).[4] FIFA currently allocate Oceania one berth at the World Cup[5] and hence only the winners qualify to the World Cup finals.[2]

Oceania's governing body for football, the OFC, organise the championship.[6] Cooperation has also come from Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), particularly in the initial tournaments.[7] The competition was held under the title of the OFC Beach Soccer Championship until 2019 when the name was changed to OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup, bringing it in line with the naming of other OFC senior national tournaments.[2]

The Solomon Islands and Tahiti are the most successful nation with four titles each.[8] Tahiti also are the current champions. These two nations are the only teams to qualify to the World Cup thus far.[2]

  1. ^ "BEACH SOCCER > TOURNAMENTS". Oceania Football Confederation. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e "History of the OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup". Oceania Football Confederation. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Solomons edge closer to Tahiti". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 31 August 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  4. ^ "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 qualifiers to start in Brazil on 5 March". FIFA. 3 March 2006. Archived from the original on 13 May 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  5. ^ "World Cup gets bigger". FIFA. 25 August 2005. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2K9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ oceaniafootball (2006). "OFC Beach Soccer Championship 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Mexico claim the 2019 Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship". CONCACAF. 9 October 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2019.