Morocco Joins in Worldwide Beach Football Action

28/04/2005

The sport of beach football has come a long way since becoming an organized sport in Brazil in the early 1990s. Emerging as a fast-paced, smaller version of its predecessor, the game can be played anywhere there is sand; a fact that helped it spread quickly to other parts of the world, including North Africa.

(FIFA; Beach Soccer Worldwide)

[File] Bassir will play beach football

For the first time, Morocco is joining the Pro Beach Soccer Tour in August at a tournament in Portugal. Former stars Salaheddine Bassir and Rachid Daoudi are expected to be part of the team. Moroccan officials are negotiating with Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) to bring an event to Casablanca and be only the second Arab country after the UAE to host an official beach football tournament.

An April 1994 tournament on the world-famous Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janiero was the first beach football event to be televised. The first Beach Soccer World Championship was held at the same place in 1995, with the host nation winning. In the ten championships that have been held, Brazil has won nine times and Portugal won once. Every tournament has been held in Brazil, with the Copacabana being the venue six times.

The success of the first world championship led to commercial sponsors and increased interest in the sport, which culminated in the creation of the first Pro Beach Soccer Tour in 1996. The tour has since sprouted offshoots, such as the European Pro Breach Soccer League.

Expanded television coverage and the participation of big-name stars, such as Brazilians Romario and Zico and Frenchman Eric Cantona, made beach football one of the quickest-growing pro sports in the world. People in over 170 countries watch the sport, with the BSWW promoting it in over 60 nations. Sky Sports of Britain, TVE of Spain and SIC of Portugal are among the major networks that air beach football. European amateur tournaments see over 70,000 players alone and over 70 nations have requested to hold Pro Beach Soccer Tour events.

Just because it is played on sand does not mean beach football is not a serious sport. World football regulatory body FIFA is now involved in the sport and is organizing the first Beach Soccer World Cup in May at Copacabana. The competition will include 12 teams representing six continents. Africa will be represented by South Africa, which is the only country on the continent to yet have any tradition in the sport.

FIFA plans to hold the World Cup annually and perhaps in the next few years Morocco will join South Africa in representing the continent.

[File] Athletic aerial maneuvers are common

Beach football is an exciting and frenetic brand of football in which five players per side play on a small 28X37m pitch. Skills and agility are paramount, with the ball spending most of the time in the air and goals scored an average of every three to four minutes from virtually every spot on the pitch.

The matches, consisting of three 12-minute periods, allow for unlimited substitutions form the three- to-five men benches because of the tiring nature of play. During the three minutes between periods – music, live acts, dancers, and cheerleaders make for a festive atmosphere.

When the score is tied after regulation play, a three-minute period is played with the golden goal rule. Penalty kicks are taken until a winner is determined if the score is still tied after the extra session.

The absence of walls leads to the ball going out of bounds often. The barefoot players have the option of either throwing or kicking the ball back into play from the sideline. Free kicks on goal are rewarded after each foul, with the offending player receiving a blue card and spending two minutes on the sidelines.

Beach football is entertaining in its unpredictability, as the sand playing surface does not have the regularity of a well-maintained grass pitch.