Beach Culture: Beach Soccer

Hello everyone! As we saw on my last posts Brazilian have invented many fun sports such as futevôlei, frescobol, and capoeira. Did you know that beach soccer was also invented here? Yes, it was. It started in Copacabana beach and is now played in 75 countries.

globoesporte.globo.com

The beach soccer started to be played in 1992 in Rio and in 1996 the first Pro Beach Soccer Tour was organized in Europe, Asia and US. The sport quickly became very popular, in May 2005 FIFA decided to take over and organized the first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, when France was the winner followed by Portugal and Brazil.

beachsoccer.com

The game is played on the fine sand, at least 40 cm deep, free of shells or anything that may hurt the players. The court has 35-37 cm  length x 26-28 cm width. The match is played by two teams of 5 players each, including the goalkeeper. The number of substitutions are unlimited and the player who was substituted can return to substitute another player. The players are allowed the wear only a jersey, and shorts, an elastic binding to protect the feet may be worn too, but no footwear is permitted. The goalkeeper can wear long pants and gloves.

The match has three periods of 12 minutes each, this game requires excellent physical conditioning, skills and ability and usually many goals are scored in each match. It's a beautiful game to watch. Hope you enjoy it!

Sun, Sand, Sea, Soccer, Sweat... the perfect 5 S! 
Does anyone want to Swim? Sure! See ya!