From the Favelas to the World Stage: The Origins of Beach Soccer

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The sport played on beaches around the world today is traced back to the beaches of Rio De Janeiro in the 1950s.  

Beach soccer is an electric sport full of immense skill, passion and most of all bicycle kicks, but how did this sport become the exhilarating professional game it is today? 

The origins of the sport are believed to have been on the beaches of Brazil more specifically the Copacabana beaches of Rio De Janeiro. 

An exact date is not available as people have been playing football on beaches for generations but it is believed to have been in the 1950’s.  

During the 1950’s the first tournament of the sport was created to bring together smaller neighbourhood tournaments into one official one.  

From the 50’s until the 90’s the sport was played without an official set of rules and more recreationally that was until 1992.  

In 1992 the laws of the game were created and the first ever official beach soccer tournament was organised in Los Angeles, California. This was a huge step for the sport in becoming a recognised event by official federations and elevated the sport globally.  

The first event covered by network television took this elevation even further in 1994. The event was held on the grounds where the sport first was created, the Copacabana beaches of Rio De Janeiro.  

Brazil, the pioneers of the sport, came away winners of this competition making them the first-ever winners cementing their legacy as not only the creators but as the champions.  

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With interest in the sport growing because of the coverage of the tournament, a world tour for the sport was next on the cards.  

In 1996 the Pro Beach Soccer Tour took place, 60 games were played across several continents in the span of 2 years.  

With the interest and hype generated around this tour, the creation of the European Pro Beach Soccer League was created in 1998 to provide more professionalism and stability to the fast-paced sport. 

Growth only kept coming for the sport as FIFA became its global governing body allowing the first World Cup to be set up in 2005.  

The development continues today with more countries creating teams to compete, more federations being set up and both women and men playing the sport. 

The interest and hype around the sport have grown massively due to its unpredictable nature. The Portuguese futsal national coach, Jorge Braz, agrees stating “The difficulty of the playing surface, the ball always being in the air… It is fantastic, and this is why it attracts so many people”.

With the sport being officially created fairly recently, the question is, what’s next for the development of Beach Soccer?