Football |17 December 2022

Seychelles hosted the inaugural Cosafa beach soccer championship and Caf Beach Soccer Cup of Nations in April 2015. The SFF has won the bid to host the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup 2025

Seychelles to host 2025 Beach Soccer World Cup

Seychelles has won the bid to host the 2025 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) announced yesterday.

The announcement was made by Fifa president Gianni Infantino during Fifa’s latest council meeting in Doha, Qatar ahead of the World Cup final between Argentina and France to be played on Sunday.

Mr Infantino announced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as hosts for the 12th edition of the Beach Soccer World Cup next year and Seychelles for the 13th edition in 2025.

Cosafa nation Seychelles was bidding along with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

An announcement was expected in March this year but that was later deferred to October, which was then postponed again to Friday’s meeting.

With the backing of government, the Seychelles Football Federation had been pushing hard to win the bid to host the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup in 2023, but instead got the 2025 edition.

Bidding for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup 2023 started in October 2021.

This is the first time the tournament will be staged on the African continent.

Reacting on the announcement, the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) thanked the members of the Fifa selection committee for choosing Seychelles as hosts of this prestigious competition in 2025.

“This will be a formidable opportunity to make our nation shine on the international scene,” the SFF said.

“It will not only be a major football event but it will also be good for tourism,” the SFF added.

The Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup takes place biennially and brings together the best beach soccer players from countries across the globe.

Sixteen teams, including the host country, qualify for the tournament which normally takes place over 10 days.

This will be the biggest and most important football tournament to be held here after the country successfully hosted the Cosafa and Caf Beach Soccer Cup of Nations competitions in 2015 and which were won by Madagascar.

Contributed