Sixteen of the world’s best beach soccer national teams will compete for glory over 11 days of competition
First-ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup™ to be staged in Africa kicks off on 1 May and is to be streamed live and free on FIFA+
Chile, Guatemala and Mauritania will join host nation Seychelles in making their tournament debuts, with three of the four newcomers in action on the opening day
The waiting is almost over, with the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Seychelles 2025™ set to get under way on Thursday, 1 May. The tournament will feature 16 national teams, from all six confederations, competing to be crowned world champions. Fans located in the following participating countries can watch every second of their team’s matches live on FIFA+: Belarus, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Senegal, Seychelles, Spain and Tahiti, with highlights of all other fixtures available to watch from anywhere in the world. A search function that displays the viewing options in each country is available on FIFA.com, with users able to select their location via the drop-down menu. The 13th edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup™ will kick off at 15:00 local time on Thursday, 1 May. Belarus, IR Iran, Japan, Paraguay and Portugal will be in action on Matchday 1, and three of the four tournament debutants (Guatemala, Mauritania and Seychelles) will also take to the sand on the opening day. The fourth newcomers, Chile, get their campaign up and running against Tahiti on Friday, 2 May. Speaking ahead of the tournament, Seychelles Football Federation President Elvis Chetty said: “I’m extremely proud to have the world of beach soccer and the FIFA family here in the Seychelles. It’s a great honour for us, especially to be the first African nation to host the [FIFA] Beach Soccer World Cup. "I’m thrilled, I’m nervous, but I know that the Seychelles Local Organising Committee team, along with the FIFA team, is very much ready to host the world and deliver a great spectacle. I hope this will be the very best Beach Soccer World Cup to date, and we are ready.”
All 32 matches will take place at the aptly named Paradise Arena, a purpose-built, 3,500-capacity stadium. Originally constructed for the 2024 edition of the tournament in the United Arab Emirates, the arena was dismantled, shipped to the Seychelles and reassembled on a new sand and cement base as part of FIFA’s sustainability efforts. Following the conclusion of the tournament, the facility will remain in situ in the Seychelles for community use and will be a permanent legacy of the 13th edition of the tournament. The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is renowned for its exhilarating and high-scoring matches. The 2024 tournament in Dubai served up no fewer than 223 goals across the 32 encounters, averaging almost seven goals per match. The 2021 edition produced 302 goals in 32 matches, which averages out at 9.4 goals per fixture. The full match schedule for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Seychelles 2025 is available to view on FIFA.com.
Matches will be streamed live in selected countries on FIFA+. For fans interested in attending the tournament, tickets are available to purchase at FIFA.com/tickets. Opening day – fixtures and kick-off times Guatemala v. Japan 05:00 in Guatemala City 15:00 in Victoria 20:00 in Tokyo
Mauritania v. IR Iran 12:30 in Nouakchott 16:00 in Tehran 16:30 in Victoria
Seychelles v. Belarus 18:00 in Minsk 19:00 in Victoria
Portugal v. Paraguay 13:30 in Asunción 17:30 in Lisbon 20:30 in Victoria