2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Copa Mundial de Fútbol Playa FIFA 2019
Tournament details
Host countryParaguay
CityLuque
Dates21 November – 1 December
Teams16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Portugal (2nd title)
Runners-up Italy
Third place Russia
Fourth place Japan
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored286 (8.94 per match)
Attendance34,997 (1,094 per match)
Top scorer(s)Italy Gabriele Gori (16 goals)
Best player(s)Japan Ozu Moreira
Best goalkeeperPortugal Elinton Andrade
Fair play award Senegal
← 2017
2021 →

The 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the 10th FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the premier international beach soccer championship contested by men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. Overall, this was the 20th edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the Beach Soccer World Championships which ran from 1995 to 2004 but was not governed by FIFA. This was the fifth tournament to take place under the biennial basis; the World Cup now takes place once every two years, having taken place annually until 2009.

The tournament was confirmed publicly on 3 November 2017, during the annual FIFA Beach Soccer Workshop in Dubai as part of the recently renewed partnership between FIFA and Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW).[1] In October 2018, it was announced that the tournament would take place in Paraguay in the city of Luque, near the capital, Asunción,[2] between 21 November and 1 December 2019.[3][4][5] Fifteen teams advanced through preliminary continental qualification competitions, which started in September 2018 and ended in July 2019, to join the hosts in the final tournament which included Belarus as the sole team making their debut at the finals[6] and notably saw the third placed team of the previous edition, Iran, fail to qualify.[7] This was the first FIFA tournament to be hosted by Paraguay, the first edition of the World Cup held in South America since 2007, and the first time a landlocked country hosted beach soccer's principal event.[8]

Following two narrow loses, hosts Paraguay were eliminated at the group stage.[9] Brazil were the defending champions, but were defeated at the quarter-finals stage by Russia in what was a repeat of the scenario of 2015,[10] thereby condemning Brazil to their joint-worst ever result. Portugal won the tournament, besting Italy in the final to claim their second FIFA World Cup crown (following 2015) and third world title overall (including the 2001 World Championships);[11] Italy collected a second runners-up medal, following 2008.[12] For the first time, the podium teams were all European nations.[13] Japan finished fourth, matching their best ever placing previously achieved in 2005.[13] A joint-record tally of 286 goals were scored (with 2006).[13]

Madjer of Portugal made his last international beach soccer tournament appearance at this competition. The all-time top scorer of the competition, often heralded as the best player of all time, announced his retirement following the final, aged 42.[14]

Host selection[edit]

The bidding schedule to determine the hosts was as follows:[15]

  • 14 June 2018 – FIFA opens bidding process.
  • 29 June 2018 – Deadline for national associations to declare interest of hosting to FIFA.
  • 6 July 2018 – FIFA send documents detailing the application campaign and conditions of participation for associations to analyse.
  • 27 July 2018 – Deadline for associations to agree to terms of documents and submit an official bid.
  • 14 September 2018 – Deadline for nations to prepare and submit their complete bidding packages to be evaluated by FIFA.
  • 26 October 2018 – Hosts announced by FIFA.

Countries known to have declared interest in bidding to host the competition are inclusive of but not exclusive to:

On 1 October 2018, the FIFA Organising Committee recommended hosting be awarded to Paraguay as they were the only association to make an official bid after the initial declaration of interest stage.[18] Confirmation of the awarding of hosting rights to Paraguay was announced at the FIFA Council meeting in Kigali, Rwanda on 26 October 2018.[19]

Qualification[edit]

A total of 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Paraguay who qualified automatically as hosts, 15 other teams qualified from six separate continental competitions.

The slot allocation for each confederation was decided at the FIFA Council meeting on 26 October 2018.[20][21]

Qualifying rounds[edit]

  Qualified for World Cup finals
  Entered qualifying rounds but failed to qualify for World Cup finals
  Initially entered qualifying rounds but withdrew
  Did not enter the World Cup
  Not an associate member of FIFA

The process of qualification to the World Cup finals began on 9 September 2018 and ended on 27 July 2019.

Qualified teams[edit]

Note: All appearance statistics below include only the FIFA era (since 2005); see: National team appearances in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup for inclusion of the pre-FIFA era (1995–2004) stats.

Confederation Qualifying tournament Team App Last Best performance
AFC
(Asia) 		2019 AFC Beach Soccer Championship  Japan 10th 2017 Fourth place (2005)
 Oman 3rd 2015 Group stage (2011, 2015)
 United Arab Emirates 6th 2017 Group stage (2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017)
CAF
(Africa) 		2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations  Nigeria 6th 2017 Quarter-finals (2007, 2011)
 Senegal 7th 2017 Quarter-finals (2007, 2011, 2017)
CONCACAF
(Central, North America and Caribbean) 		2019 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship  Mexico 6th 2017 Runners-up (2007)
 United States 5th 2013 Group stage (2005, 2006, 2007, 2013)
CONMEBOL
(South America) 		Host nation  Paraguay 4th 2017 Quarter-finals (2017)
2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)  Brazil 10th 2017 Champions (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017)
 Uruguay 6th 2009 Runners-up (2006)
OFC (Oceania) 2019 OFC Beach Soccer Nations Cup  Tahiti 5th 2017 Runners-up (2015, 2017)
UEFA
(Europe) 		2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA)  Belarus 1st n/a Debut
 Italy 8th 2017 Runners-up (2008)
 Russia 7th 2015 Champions (2011, 2013)
  Switzerland 5th 2017 Runners-up (2009)
 Portugal 9th 2017 Champions (2015)

Venue[edit]

One venue was used in the city of Luque, part of the Greater Asunción area, on the grounds of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee headquarters.[31]

The stadium was purpose-built for the tournament,[31] having been constructed between January and August 2019.[32][33] It was officially opened by FIFA president Gianni Infantino on 9 November 2019,[34] under the nickname of the Paraguay national team, Los Pynandi, meaning "barefoot" in Guarani.[31] The Paraguayan Football Association (APF) and FIFA funded the US$1.5 million cost of the concrete structure.[31] The main arena was complemented by three external, floodlit training pitches located adjacent.[35]

Luque
(Greater Asunción area)
2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (Paraguay)
Los Pynandi Stadium
25°15′23.7″S 57°31′54.11″W / 25.256583°S 57.5316972°W / -25.256583; -57.5316972
Capacity: 2,820[31]

Organisation[edit]

The following were key milestones in the organisation of the tournament (not belonging of other sections):

The official poster of the World Cup
  • A budget of US$8 million for the tournament was approved at the FIFA Council meeting in Bogota, Colombia on 16 March 2018.[36] In March 2021, the final cost was reported under-budget at US$6.1 million.[37]
  • FIFA delegates visited the proposed World Cup complex, meeting with members of the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) for the first time on 15 November 2018.[38]
  • The dates of the competition were confirmed at the FIFA Council meeting in Miami, United States on 15 March 2019.[39]
  • The Local Organising Committee (LOC) and FIFA officials held their first meeting together, the latter also conducting a second inspection of the venue, on 16 July 2019.[40]
  • The official emblem and official match ball, the former a design inspired by Ñandutí, a traditional form of Paraguayan embroidered lace, was unveiled at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Asuncion, on 18 July 2019.[41]
  • The "coordination" meeting, attended by the LOC, FIFA delegates and representatives of the sixteen participating teams, was held at the Bourbon Asunción Convention Hotel on 13 September 2019.[42]
  • Press accreditation ran during October 2019 with the deadline to register for approval through the FIFA Media Channel, 31 October.[43]
  • Tickets were made available online to the public on 25 October 2019.[44]
  • Tigo Paraguay, Visión Banco and Cerveza Pilsen were announced as National Supporters of the tournament on 14, 19 and 20 November 2019 respectively.[45][46][47]
  • The official promotional poster, designed to be "thought-provoking" and instantly command attention, based upon Guaraní culture features of feathers and native Paraguayan patterns of triangles and diamonds, was unveiled on 19 November 2019.[48] Local marketing of the tournament, including only publishing the poster 48 hours before the tournament began, received criticism.[49]

Match officials[edit]

FIFA chose 24 officials from 24 different countries to referee matches at the World Cup, who were revealed on 29 October 2019.[50][51] At least one referee was representing each of the six confederations: four from the AFC, three from CAF, five from CONMEBOL, three from CONCACAF, one from the OFC and eight from UEFA.

The most matches any one referee officiated in was seven (Domínguez, Ostrowski, Benchabane, González, Ángeles, Namazov, Mammadov); however it was Ivo Moraes who officiated the most matches as lead referee (three), including the final.[52][53] Only Hugo Pado and Sergio Soares were not appointed as first referee of any match, the latter also officiating in the fewest total matches (one).[52]

Draw[edit]

The draw to split the 16 teams into four groups of four took place on 13 September 2019 at 19:30 PYT (UTC−4), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Asunción, Paraguay.[55][56] The draw was assisted by Roberto Acuna of Paraguay and Júnior of Brazil who both formerly represented their respective national teams at World Cups in both association football and beach soccer.[55] CONMEBOL president, Alejandro Domínguez and Paraguayan Football Association (APF) president, Robert Harrison, also took part in the presentation.[57]

For the purpose of the draw, the teams were divided into four pots each containing four teams. The teams were allocated into the respective pots based on their previous performances at recent World Cups,[58] and their respective qualification tournaments. Initially, two teams from Pot 1 were automatically allocated to the groups – Paraguay, as the hosts, were assigned to position A1 and Brazil, as the defending champions, were assigned to position D1.[55] Teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group, except for UEFA for which one group was permitted to contain two, since UEFA are represented by five teams.[55]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

Squads[edit]

Main article: 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup squads

Each team had to name a preliminary squad of between 12 and 18 players. From the preliminary squad, the team had to name a final squad of 12 players (two of whom must be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad could be replaced by a player from the preliminary squad due to serious injury or illness up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match.[59]

The squads included a number of high-profile players who, at this tournament, made their final international beach soccer appearances, announcing their retirements following the conclusion of the competition. This included Portuguese captain and three-time world champion Madjer (1998 debut, 583 caps), 2009 runners-up, Swiss captain Moritz "Mo" Jaeggy (2003 debut, 355 caps) and his brother, Valentin Jaeggy (2005 debut, 321 caps).[14]

Group stage[edit]

Each team earned three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

All times are local, PYST (UTC−3).[60]

Tiebreakers[edit]

The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:[59]

  1. Points obtained in all group matches;
  2. Goal difference in all group matches;
  3. Number of goals scored in all group matches;
  4. Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
  5. Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
  6. Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
  7. Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
    • Yellow card: −1 points;
    • Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
    • Direct red card: −4 points;
    • Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
  8. Drawing of lots.

Group A[edit]

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Japan 3 3 0 0 0 14 10 +4 9 Knockout stage
2   Switzerland 3 1 1 0 1 18 17 +1 5
3  Paraguay (H) 3 1 0 0 2 15 13 +2 3
4  United States 3 0 0 0 3 10 17 −7 0
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host
Switzerland 8–6 United States
  • Stankovic 1', 14'
  • Hodel 6'
  • Ott 10', 32', 33'
  • Mounoud 21'
  • Borer 27'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 578[61]
Referee: Aecio Fernández (Uruguay)
Paraguay 4–5 Japan
  • Carballo 22', 34'
  • Morán 28'
  • Barreto 32'
 Report
  • Okuyama 13'
  • Ozu 16', 27'
  • Akaguma 24', 36'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 2,483[62]
Referee: Raúl González (Spain)
United States 3–4 Japan
  • Canale 9', 33'
  • Toth 20'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 642[63]
Referee: Sofien Benchabane (France)
Paraguay 6–7 (a.e.t.)  Switzerland
  • Y. Rolón 8'
  • J. Rolón 28', 29' (pen.), 38'
  • Ojeda 32'
  • Morán 34'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 2,847[64]
Japan 5–3  Switzerland
  • Akaguma 2', 8'
  • Oba 21'
  • Ozu 21'
  • Komaki 29'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 361[65]
Referee: Alex Valdiviezo (Peru)
United States 1–5 Paraguay
  • Leopoldo 30'
 Report
  • Morán 9'
  • J. Rolón 11'
  • Barreto 23'
  • Carballo 24' (pen.)
  • Ovelar 30'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 2,847[66]
Referee: Ingilab Mammadov (Azerbaijan)

Group B[edit]

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Italy 3 2 0 0 1 21 10 +11 6 Knockout stage
2  Uruguay 3 2 0 0 1 9 9 0 6
3  Tahiti 3 2 0 0 1 16 17 −1 6
4  Mexico 3 0 0 0 3 3 13 −10 0
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Italy 12–4 Tahiti
  • Gori 2', 6', 13', 32' (pen.), 36'
  • Corosiniti 9', 10'
  • Zurlo 18', 18', 29', 33'
  • Montani 30'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 537[67]
Referee: Ivo Moraes (Brazil)
Uruguay 1–0 Mexico
  • Laduche 36'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 997[68]
Referee: Bakhtiyor Namazov (Uzbekistan)
Tahiti 6–1 Mexico
  • Chan-Kat 12', 22'
  • Teriitau 21' (pen.)
  • Labaste 27'
  • Taiarui 29'
  • Tepa 35'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 326[69]
Referee: Łukasz Ostrowski (Poland)
Uruguay 4–3 Italy
  • Laens 7'
  • Costa 17'
  • Laduche 20'
  • Miranda 27'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,069[70]
Referee: Hany Farouk (Egypt)
Mexico 2–6 Italy
 Report
  • Gori 3', 9', 13', 14', 22'
  • Zurlo 23'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 216[71]
Referee: Said Hachim (Madagascar)
Tahiti 6–4 Uruguay
  • Teriitau 3'
  • Tepa 10', 30'
  • Tehau 14'
  • Labaste 22'
  • Taiarui 26'
 Report
  • Bella 5', 34'
  • Laduche 27'
  • Capurro 30'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,318[72]
Referee: Gonzalo Carballo (El Salvador)

Group C[edit]

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Senegal 3 2 0 0 1 17 11 +6 6 Knockout stage
2  Russia 3 2 0 0 1 14 14 0 6
3  Belarus 3 1 0 0 2 10 13 −3 3
4  United Arab Emirates 3 1 0 0 2 6 9 −3 3
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Senegal 7–8 Russia
  • Diassy 5', 17'
  • Fall 15', 33'
  • Mendy 26'
  • Diagne 29', 34' (pen.)
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 277[73]
Referee: Gustavo Domínguez (Paraguay)
Belarus 5–1 United Arab Emirates
  • Savich 4'
  • Makarevich 19'
  • Samsonov 29'
  • Bryshtsel 31', 32'
 Report
  • A. Beshr 26'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 538[74]
Referee: Adil Ouchker (Morocco)
Russia 1–4 United Arab Emirates
 Report
  • Al-Jasmi 2'
  • A. Mohammad 23'
  • Muntaser 32' (pen.)
  • W. Beshr 33'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 368[75]
Referee: Mariano Romo (Argentina)
Belarus 2–7 Senegal
  • Hapon 15'
  • Bryshtsel 30'
 Report
  • Mendy 6', 25'
  • Diatta 7'
  • Diagne 27', 29', 29', 32'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 736[76]
Referee: Ivo Moraes (Brazil)
United Arab Emirates 1–3 Senegal
  • Karim 32'
 Report
  • Sylla 27'
  • Diatta 28'
  • Mendy 30'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 308[77]
Referee: Raúl González (Spain)
Russia 5–3 Belarus
 Report
  • Hapon 5'
  • Bryshtsel 7'
  • Kanstantsinau 10'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,163[78]
Referee: Gionni Matticoli (Italy)

Group D[edit]

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Brazil 3 3 0 0 0 29 11 +18 9 Knockout stage
2  Portugal 3 2 0 0 1 20 11 +9 6
3  Oman 3 1 0 0 2 9 16 −7 3
4  Nigeria 3 0 0 0 3 8 28 −20 0
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Portugal 10–1 Nigeria
 Report
  • Abu 12'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 302[79]
Referee: Gumercindo Batista (Panama)
Brazil 8–2 Oman
  • Bokinha 4' (pen.), 11'
  • Mauricinho 6', 19', 29'
  • Filipe 12', 32'
  • Catarino 35'
 Report
  • Al-Zadjali 8'
  • Sa. Al-Bulushi 33'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 928[80]
Referee: Vitalij Gomolko (Lithuania)
Nigeria 5–6 Oman
  • Ogbonna 11', 15', 26'
  • Taiwo 27'
  • Igudia 31'
 Report
  • Al-Farsi 5', 20'
  • Al-Sinani 8'
  • Mu. Al-Araimi 20'
  • Sa. Al-Bulushi 24'
  • Al-Oraimi 28'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 445[81]
Referee: Roman Borisov (Russia)
Brazil 9–7 Portugal
  • Mauricinho 1'
  • Xavier 13'
  • Catarino 13'
  • Bokinha 17', 18'
  • Coimbra 19' (o.g.)
  • Rodrigo 20'
  • Filipe 30' (pen.)
  • Datinha 36'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,521[82]
Referee: Shao Liang (China)
Oman 1–3 Portugal
 Report
  • Coimbra 5'
  • B. Martins 21'
  • L. Martins 28'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 537[83]
Referee: Adil Ouchker (Morocco)
Nigeria 2–12 Brazil
  • Ekujumi 9'
  • Abu 17'
 Report
  • Mauricinho 4'
  • Lucão 6', 19'
  • Rodrigo 16', 25', 27'
  • Rafinha 29'
  • Bokinha 29' (pen.), 35'
  • Xavier 32'
  • Catarino 33'
  • Filipe 34'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,719[84]
Referee: Gustavo Domínguez (Paraguay)

Knockout stage[edit]

Bracket[edit]

Italy v Russia – pre-match scene of the teams lining up for the national anthems before the semi-final.
Source: FIFA
 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
28 November
 
 
 Italy5
 
30 November
 
  Switzerland4
 
 Italy (a.e.t.)8
 
28 November
 
 Russia7
 
 Brazil3
 
1 December
 
 Russia4
 
 Italy4
 
28 November
 
 Portugal6
 
 Japan3
 
30 November
 
 Uruguay2
 
 Japan3 (1)
 
28 November
 
 Portugal (p)3 (2) Third place match
 
 Senegal2
 
1 December
 
 Portugal4
 
 Russia5
 
 
 Japan4
 

Quarter-finals[edit]

Brazil 3–4 Russia
  • Rodrigo 1', 13'
  • Mão 5'
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,401[85]
Referee: Said Hachim (Madagascar)
Senegal 2–4 Portugal
  • Sylla 3'
  • Mendy 36'
 Report
  • Jordan 8'
  • Diassy 20' (o.g.)
  • L. Martins 22'
  • B. Martins 32'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,193[86]
Referee: Gonzalo Carballo (El Salvador)
Italy 5–4  Switzerland
  • Gentilin 8'
  • Zurlo 24', 31', 36'
  • Ramacciotti 25'
 Report
  • Ott 5', 10'
  • M. Jaeggy 20'
  • Borer 31'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,396[87]
Referee: Mariano Romo (Argentina)
Japan 3–2 Uruguay
 Report
  • Laduche 20' (pen.)
  • Capurro 36'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 1,072[88]
Referee: Sofien Benchabane (France)

Semi-finals[edit]

Heavy rain and strong winds threatened the postponement of the semi-finals and deterred fans from attending the matches.[89]

Italy 8–7 (a.e.t.) Russia
  • Corosiniti 9'
  • Ramacciotti 10', 15', 27'
  • Gori 25', 25', 31'
  • Zurlo 37' (pen.)
 Report
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 579[90]
Referee: Ebrahim Al-Mansory (United Arab Emirates)
Japan 3–3 (a.e.t.) Portugal
  • Ozu 11'
  • Yamauchi 13'
  • Akaguma 36'
 Report
  • L. Martins 2'
  • B. Martins 29', 31'
Penalties
 1–2
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 707[91]
Referee: Łukasz Ostrowski (Poland)

Third place match[edit]

Russia 5–4 Japan
  • Zemskov 8', 23', 29'
  • Novikov 8'
  • Makarov 26'
 Report
  • Akaguma 4', 8'
  • Ozu 12'
  • Oba 23'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 2,739[92]
Referee: Juan Angeles (Dominican Republic)

Final[edit]

Main article: 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Final
Italy 4–6 Portugal
  • Zurlo 6'
  • Ramacciotti 31', 36'
  • Gentilin 31'
 Report
  • L. Martins 8', 28'
  • Jordan 18', 26', 35'
  • Lourenço 18'
Los Pynandi Stadium, Luque
Attendance: 2,847[93]
Referee: Ivo Moraes (Brazil)

Awards[edit]

After the final, FIFA presented individual awards to the three best players of the tournament, three top goalscorers, and to the best goalkeeper. In addition, a collective award was given to the team with the most points in the Fair Play ranking.[94] Following this, the winners' trophy was awarded to Portugal.

Winners[edit]

2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Champions

Portugal
Second title
3rd world title

Individual awards[edit]

Along with the eventual winners of the gold, silver and bronze ball awards, Takuya Akaguma (Japan), Rui Coimbra (Portugal), Gabriele Gori (Italy), Boris Nikonorov (Russia), Artur Paporotnyi (Russia), Fedor Zemskov (Russia) and Emmanuele Zurlo (Italy) were also announced as the candidates for the award in the initial ten-man shortlist.[35]

The individual awards were all sponsored by Adidas, except for the FIFA Fair Play Award.[94]

The goal of the tournament was decided via an online public vote from which there were ten options to choose from. The vote closed at 14:00 GMT on 9 December.[95]

Golden Ball Silver Ball Bronze Ball
Japan Ozu Moreira Portugal Jordan Santos Portugal Bê Martins
Golden Scorer Silver Scorer Bronze Scorer
Italy Gabriele Gori
(16 goals, 0 assists)[96] 		Italy Emmanuele Zurlo
(10 goals, 1 assist)[96] 		Russia Fedor Zemskov
(10 goals, 0 assists)[96]
Golden Glove
Portugal Elinton Andrade
FIFA Fair Play Award
 Senegal
Goal of the tournament
Italy Emmanuele Zurlo; goal 1 vs. Switzerland[97]

Statistics[edit]

Goalscorers[edit]

With 16 goals, Italian forward Gabriele Gori finished as top scorer for the second consecutive tournament, a feat achieved only once previously during the FIFA era of World Cups, by Madjer in 2005 and 2006.[13] Having failed to score at the last edition,[98] Madjer scored one goal at this edition (what would be his last ever at a World Cup following his subsequent retirement) to extend his record tally of goals at FIFA World Cups to 88 (and 140 at all global championships).[13][99]

There were 286 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 8.94 goals per match.

104 different players scored goals at this year's World Cup.[13]

16 goals

10 goals

  • Italy Emmanuele Zurlo
  • Russia Fedor Zemskov

8 goals

  • Portugal Léo Martins

7 goals

6 goals

  • Brazil Bokinha
  • Brazil Rodrigo
  • Italy Dario Ramacciotti
  • Senegal Mamour Diagne

5 goals

4 goals

  • Belarus Ihar Bryshtsel
  • Brazil Filipe
  • Paraguay Jesús Rolón
  • Portugal Bê Martins
  • Russia Kirill Romanov
  • Uruguay Gastón Laduche

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

  • Belarus Ivan Kanstantsinau
  • Belarus Valery Makarevich
  • Belarus Dzianis Samsonov
  • Belarus Illia Savich
  • Brazil Datinha
  • Brazil Mão
  • Brazil Rafinha
  • Italy Marcello Percia Montani
  • Japan Masayuki Komaki
  • Japan Naoya Matsuo
  • Japan Shusei Yamauchi
  • Mexico Ramón Maldonado
  • Mexico Érick Sámano
  • Mexico José Vizcarra
  • Nigeria Egan-Osi Ekujumi
  • Nigeria Godspower Igudia
  • Nigeria Adams Taiwo
  • Oman Mushel Al-Araimi
  • Oman Khalid Al-Oraimi
  • Oman Nooh Al-Zadjali
  • Paraguay Luis Ojeda
  • Paraguay Carlos Ovelar
  • Paraguay Yoao Rolón
  • Portugal André Lourenço
  • Portugal Madjer
  • Switzerland Eliott Mounoud
  • Switzerland Jan Ostgen
  • French Polynesia Alvin Tehau
  • United Arab Emirates Mohamed Al-Jasmi
  • United Arab Emirates Ahmed Beshr
  • United Arab Emirates Waleed Beshr
  • United Arab Emirates Ali Karim
  • United Arab Emirates Ali Mohammad
  • United Arab Emirates Hesham Muntaser
  • United States Jason Santos
  • United States Christopher Toth
  • Uruguay Guillermo Costa
  • Uruguay Andrés Laens
  • Uruguay Santiago Miranda

1 own goal

  • Portugal Rui Coimbra (against Brazil)
  • Senegal Lansana Diassy (against Portugal)
  • Senegal Ibra Thioune (against Russia)

Source: FIFA

Assists[edit]

Only players who recorded multiple assists are listed.[a]

7 assists

  • Portugal Bê Martins
  • Italy Dario Ramacciotti

6 assists

4 assists

3 assists

2 assists

1 assist

  • 44 players

Source: BSRussia

Discipline[edit]

Team & match statistics
Player statistics

Sources: FIFA (team), FIFA (player), Penalties

Final standings[edit]

Pos Grp Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1 D  Portugal 6 4 0 1 1 33 20 +13 13 Champions
2 B  Italy 6 3 1 0 2 38 27 +11 11 Runners-up
3 C