Women footballers campaign for birth of Beach Soccer World Cup

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

With Seychelles set to host the 22nd edition of the Beach Soccer World Cup next year, there has been a clamour for FIFA to initiate the women’s version.

In a campaign initiated by the beach soccer governing body (Beach Soccer Worldwide) this week, women’s beach soccer players in a video raised their voices to have a beach soccer world cup while putting on the t-shirt.

Beach Soccer Worldwide in collaboration with United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC) joined forces with women’s beach soccer players to advocate for a FIFA Women’s Beach Soccer World Cup.

The t-shirt has an inscription of “It’s time for Women’s Beach Soccer World Cup”.

The players also lend their voices with the number of men’s beach soccer World Cup which is set to take place next year with the inscription (22-0), meaning men’s tournament has taken place 22 times without the women’s tournament.

The concern now is women’s beach soccer is on the rise in Europe and North Africa but the same can’t be said about other continents, especially Africa.

The 2023 Women’s Euro Beach Soccer League was the third edition which was won by the Spanish beach soccer team.

In Africa, there is only the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations (BSAFCON) without any women’s beach soccer tournament on the continent.

Only Uganda has any sign of women’s beach soccer in Africa while Nigerian-born Edna Imade played beach soccer with her former Spanish side, Cacereno.

Like football which had to wait till after 14 FIFA World Cups before the birth of the Women’s World Cup in 1991, beach soccer is lagging.

If FIFA decides to institute the Women’s Beach Soccer World Cup, there are pros and cons.

The maiden edition will have few participants due to some factors, especially development and finance.

The other side of the FIFA Women’s Beach Soccer World Cup will be a springboard for other countries to start the development of the game for women’s inclusivity.

With FIFA still battling with the maiden Women’s Club World Cup, the Women’s Beach Soccer World Cup should be taken into consideration for future development of the game.