| Organiser(s) | AFC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006; 20 years ago (2006) |
| Region | Asia |
| Teams | ~16 |
| Qualifier for | FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup |
| Current champions | |
| Most championships | (4 titles) |
| Website | afc.com |
TheAFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup is the main championship forbeach soccer inAsia, contested between the senior men's national teams ofthe members of theAsian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the sport's version of the better knownAFC Asian Cup inassociation football.
The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions; the tournament also acts as the qualification route for Asian nations to the upcoming edition of theFIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.[1] Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2009; the World Cup then becamebiennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit.Japan are the most successful nation with three titles and having also qualified for the World Cup on every occasion
The championship was established in 2006 byBeach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW)[2] under the title,FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup AFC qualifier;[3][4] afterFIFA made it a requirement forall confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national team(s) in their region who would proceed to represent their continent in the upcoming World Cup (previously, nations were simply invited to play, without having to earn their place).[5] BSWW organised the first six editions. During this time it also became informally known by themisnomer, theAFC Beach Soccer Championship.[6]
In 2015, the Asia's governing body for football, the AFC adopted the competition and branded it using its informal title in an official capacity; they jointly organised that year's edition with BSWW.[7] Since 2017, the AFC have been sole organisers.[1] For 2021, the competition was renamed as theAFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, bringing it in line with the naming of other AFC senior national tournaments.[8]
For all tournaments, the top three teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (except for 2009, when only the top two teams qualified as one of the AFC spots was automatically given to the World Cup hosts, United Arab Emirates).
| # | Year | Location | Final | Third place play-off | Teams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | Score | Runners-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | |||||||
| 1 | 2006 details | Bahrain | 5–3 | Japan | Iran | 6–4 | China | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 2007 details | United Arab Emirates | 4–3 | Japan | Iran | 6–0 | Bahrain | 6 | ||||
| 3 | 2008 details | United Arab Emirates | 4–3 | Japan | Iran | 4–1 | China | 6 | ||||
| 4 | 2009 details | Japan | 4–2 | Bahrain | Oman | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (2–1p) | Iran | 7 | ||||
| 5 | 2011 details | Japan | 2–1 | Oman | Iran | 6–2 | United Arab Emirates | 11 | ||||
| 6 | 2013 details | Iran | 6–6 (a.e.t.) (5–4p) | Japan | United Arab Emirates | 3–2 | Australia | 16 | ||||
| 7 | 2015 details | Oman | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–2p) | Japan | Iran | 8–3 | Lebanon | 14 | ||||
| 8 | 2017 details | Iran | 7–2 | United Arab Emirates | Japan | 6–3 | Lebanon | 12 | ||||
| 9 | 2019 details | Japan | 2–2 (a.e.t.) (3–1p) | United Arab Emirates | Oman | 2–2 (a.e.t.) (2–1p) | Palestine | 15 | ||||
| – | 2021 details | Canceled due toCOVID-19 pandemic. Teams to play at theWorld Cup handpicked by the AFC.[9] | – | |||||||||
| 10 | 2023 details | Iran | 6–0 | Japan | Oman | 4–2 | United Arab Emirates | 16 | ||||
| 11 | 2025 details | Iran | 8–1 | Oman | Japan | 3–1 | Saudi Arabia | 16 | ||||
| 12 | 2026 details | 16 | ||||||||||
| Team | Titles | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 (2013, 2017, 2023, 2025) | – | 5 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2015) | 1 (2009) | 10 | |
| 3 (2009, 2011, 2019) | 6 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2023) | 2 (2017, 2025) | – | 11 | |
| 2 (2007*, 2008*) | 2 (2017, 2019) | 1 (2013) | 2 (2011, 2023) | 7 | |
| 1 (2015) | 2 (2011*, 2025) | 3 (2009, 2019, 2023) | – | 6 | |
| 1 (2006) | 1 (2009) | – | 1 (2007) | 3 | |
| – | – | – | 2 (2006, 2008) | 2 | |
| – | – | – | 2 (2015, 2017) | 2 | |
| – | – | – | 1 (2013) | 1 | |
| – | – | – | 1 (2019) | 1 | |
| – | – | – | 1 (2025) | 1 |
| Rank | Team | Part | M | W | WE | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | 55 | 40 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 289 | 137 | +152 | 124 | |
| 2 | 11 | 53 | 39 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 334 | 129 | +205 | 120 | |
| 3 | 10 | 46 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 196 | 129 | +87 | 97 | |
| 4 | 8 | 40 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 177 | 97 | +80 | 88 | |
| 5 | 10 | 43 | 21 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 136 | 145 | -9 | 67 | |
| 6 | 11 | 42 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 27 | 119 | 182 | –63 | 40 | |
| 7 | 6 | 25 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 106 | 89 | +17 | 32 | |
| 8 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 48 | 52 | –8 | 23 | |
| 9 | 6 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 55 | 68 | –13 | 23 | |
| 10 | 6 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 72 | 94 | –22 | 15 | |
| 11 | 5 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 53 | 85 | –32 | 14 | |
| 12 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 25 | 24 | +1 | 10 | |
| 13 | 5 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 55 | 72 | –17 | 13 | |
| 14 | 6 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 48 | 93 | –45 | 9 | |
| 15 | 3 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 38 | 60 | –22 | 16 | |
| 16 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 42 | 83 | –41 | 9 | |
| 17 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 21 | –10 | 3 | |
| 18 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 30 | 85 | –55 | 3 | |
| 19 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 26 | –9 | 2 | |
| 20 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 23 | –15 | 0 | |
| 21 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 19 | –13 | 0 | |
| 22 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 40 | –28 | 0 | |
| 23 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 19 | 64 | –45 | 3 | |
| 24 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 13 | 90 | –77 | 0 |
Points:W = 3 points /WE = 2 points /WP = 1 points /L = 0 points
| Year | Top goalscorer(s) | Gls | Best player | Best goalkeeper | Fair play | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | not awarded | [7] | ||||
| [8] | ||||||
| 12 | [9] | |||||
| [10] | ||||||
| 8 | [11] | |||||
| 11 | [12] | |||||
| 8 | [13] | |||||
| 12 | not awarded[a] | [14] | ||||
| 9 | [15] | |||||
| 11 | [16] | |||||
| 12 |
| Rank | Team | Awards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | |
| 2 | 12 | |
| 3 | 4 | |
| 4 | 3 | |
| 5 | 2 | |
| 6 | 1 |
Since 2017, the competition'sTechnical Study Group have produced a post-tournament report including a dream and reserve "team of the tournament".
| Year | Dream team | Reserve team | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||
|
| ||
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The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the AFC Beach Soccer Championship and how many appearances they each have made.
|
|
Year Team | 2006 (6) | 2007 (6) | 2008 (6) | 2009 (7) | 2011 (11) | 2013 (16) | 2015 (14) | 2017 (12) | 2019 (15) | 2023 (16) | 2025 (16) | Apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| × | × | × | × | •• | 11th | × | 6th | 12th | 13th | 16th | 5 | |
| × | × | × | 5th | × | 4th | × | × | × | × | × | 2 | |
| 1st | 4th | × | 2nd | 6th | 9th | 7th | 5th | 6th | 6th | 8th | 10 | |
| 4th | 5th | 4th | 7th | 5th | 7th | 6th | 12th | 9th | 7th | 12th | 11 | |
| × | 6th | × | × | × | × | × | × | × | × | 15th | 2 | |
| × | × | × | × | 11th | × | × | × | × | 16th | 11th | 3 | |
| 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 7th | 1st | 1st | 11 | |
| × | × | × | × | 9th | 10th | 12th | 9th | 13th | × | 14th | 6 | |
| 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 11 | |
| × | × | × | × | 10th | × | 9th | × | 11th | 8th | 9th | 5 | |
| × | × | × | × | × | × | × | × | 15th | 14th | × | 2 | |
| × | × | × | × | × | × | 10th | × | × | × | × | 1 | |
| × | × | × | × | × | 8th | 4th | 4th | 5th | 10th | 7th | 6 | |
| × | × | × | × | × | × | × | 8th | 8th | 15th | 10th | 4 | |
| × | × | × | 3rd | 2nd | 5th | 1st | 7th | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 8 | |
| × | × | × | × | •• | 6th | •• | × | 4th | 11th | × | 3 | |
| 6th | × | 6th | × | × | 16th | × | × | × | × | × | 3 | |
| × | × | × | × | •• | 15th | 14th | 11th | 14th | × | × | 4 | |
| × | × | × | × | × | 12th | × | × | × | 9th | 4th | 3 | |
| × | × | × | × | 8th | × | × | × | × | × | × | 1 | |
| × | × | × | × | × | 13th | 13th | 10th | 10th | 5th | 5th | 6 | |
| 5th | 1st | 1st | × | 4th | 3rd | 5th | 2nd | 2nd | 4th | 6th | 10 | |
| × | × | 5th | 6th | 7th | 14th | 8th | •• | × | 12th | × | 6 | |
| × | × | × | × | × | × | 11th | × | × | × | 13th | 2 |
The following is a performance timeline of the AFC teams who have appeared in theBeach Soccer World Cup since being sanctioned by FIFA in 2005.
|
|
| Team \ Years | 2005[†] | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2021[†] | 2023 | 2025 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QF | R1 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | QF | QF | 3rd | 3rd | Q | 9 | |||||
| 4th | QF | R1 | R1 | QF | R1 | QF | QF | R1 | 4th | 2nd | QF | Q | 13 | |
| R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | Q | 6 | ||||||||
| R1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | R1 | QF | 8 |