AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup

The AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Asia, contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the sport's version of the better known AFC Asian Cup in association football.

AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup

Organiser(s)	AFC
Founded	2006; 20 years ago (2006)
Region	Asia
Teams	~16
Qualifier for	FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Current champions	Iran (4th title)
Most championships	Iran (4 titles)
Website	afc.com
2026 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup

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 the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2009; the World Cup then became biennial, 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

History

The championship was established in 2006 by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) under the title, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup AFC qualifier; after FIFA made it a requirement for all 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). BSWW organised the first six editions. During this time it also became informally known by the misnomer, the AFC Beach Soccer Championship.

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. Since 2017, the AFC have been sole organisers. For 2021, the competition was renamed as the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, bringing it in line with the naming of other AFC senior national tournaments.

Results

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).

Tournament names

2006 – 2019: AFC Beach Soccer Championship
2021 – present: AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup

#	Year	Location	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place	Teams
#	Year	Location	Final			Third place play-off			Teams
1	2006 details	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Bahrain	5–3	Japan	Iran	6–4	China	6
2	2007 details	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	4–3	Japan	Iran	6–0	Bahrain	6
3	2008 details	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	4–3	Japan	Iran	4–1	China	6
4	2009 details	Dubai, United Arab Emirates^[a]	Japan	4–2	Bahrain	Oman	1–1 (a.e.t.) (2–1 p)	Iran	7
5	2011 details	Muscat, Oman	Japan	2–1	Oman	Iran	6–2	United Arab Emirates	11
6	2013 details	Doha, Qatar	Iran	6–6 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Japan	United Arab Emirates	3–2	Australia	16
7	2015 details	Doha, Qatar	Oman	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–2 p)	Japan	Iran	8–3	Lebanon	14
8	2017 details	Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia	Iran	7–2	United Arab Emirates	Japan	6–3	Lebanon	12
9	2019 details	Pattaya, Thailand	Japan	2–2 (a.e.t.) (3–1 p)	United Arab Emirates	Oman	2–2 (a.e.t.) (2–1 p)	Palestine	15
–	2021 details	Phuket, Thailand	Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Teams to play at the World Cup handpicked by the AFC.						–
10	2023 details	Pattaya, Thailand	Iran	6–0	Japan	Oman	4–2	United Arab Emirates	16
11	2025 details	Pattaya, Thailand	Iran	8–1	Oman	Japan	3–1	Saudi Arabia	16
12	2026 details	Jakarta, Indonesia							16

a. ^ Despite being hosts and defending champions, the United Arab Emirates did not participate in the championship as they had already qualified automatically for the 2009 World Cup as its host nation.

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Total
Iran	4 (2013, 2017, 2023, 2025)	–	5 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2015)	1 (2009)	10
Japan	3 (2009, 2011, 2019)	6 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2023)	2 (2017, 2025)	–	11
United Arab Emirates	2 (2007, 2008)	2 (2017, 2019)	1 (2013)	2 (2011, 2023)	7
Oman	1 (2015)	2 (2011*, 2025)	3 (2009, 2019, 2023)	–	6
Bahrain	1 (2006)	1 (2009)	–	1 (2007)	3
China	–	–	–	2 (2006, 2008)	2
Lebanon	–	–	–	2 (2015, 2017)	2
Australia	–	–	–	1 (2013)	1
Palestine	–	–	–	1 (2019)	1
Saudi Arabia	–	–	–	1 (2025)	1

* Hosts

Summary (2006–2025)

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	WE	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Japan	11	55	40	1	2	12	289	137	+152	124
2	Iran	11	53	39	1	1	12	334	129	+205	120
3	United Arab Emirates	10	46	32	0	1	13	196	129	+87	97
4	Oman	8	40	28	0	4	8	177	97	+80	88
5	Bahrain	10	43	21	1	2	19	136	145	-9	67
6	China	11	42	12	1	2	27	119	182	–63	40
7	Lebanon	6	25	10	1	0	14	106	89	+17	32
8	Palestine	3	14	7	1	0	6	48	52	–8	23
9	Thailand	6	20	7	1	0	12	55	68	–13	23
10	Uzbekistan	6	21	5	0	0	16	72	94	–22	15
11	Afghanistan	5	18	4	1	0	13	53	85	–32	14
12	Australia	2	8	3	0	1	4	25	24	+1	10
13	Kuwait	5	16	4	0	1	11	55	72	–17	13
14	Iraq	6	18	2	1	1	14	48	93	–45	9
15	Saudi Arabia	3	14	5	0	1	8	38	60	–22	16
16	Malaysia	4	15	3	0	0	12	42	83	–41	9
17	Laos	1	3	1	0	0	2	11	21	–10	3
18	Qatar	4	14	1	0	0	13	30	85	–55	3
19	Vietnam	2	6	0	1	0	5	17	26	–9	2
20	India	2	5	0	0	0	5	8	23	–15	0
21	Syria	1	3	0	0	0	3	6	19	–13	0
22	Kyrgyzstan	2	6	0	0	0	6	12	40	–28	0
23	Indonesia	3	9	1	0	0	8	19	64	–45	3
24	Philippines	3	9	0	0	0	9	13	90	–77	0

Points: W = 3 points / WE = 2 points / WP = 1 points / L = 0 points

Awards

By category

Year	Top goalscorer(s)	Gls	Best player	Best goalkeeper	Fair play	Ref.
2006	Takeshi Kawaharazuka	9	Abdullah Omar	Hamed Ghorbanpour	not awarded	[7]
2007	Farid Boulokbashi		Bakhit Alabadla	Mohamed Al Mazam		[8]
2008	Shusei Yamauchi	12	Rami Al Mesaabi	Shingo Terukina		[9]
2009	Moslem Mesigar		Yaqoob Al Nesuf	Tomoya Ginoza		[10]
2011	Takeshi Kawaharazuka Ishaq Al-Qassmi	8	Yahya Al Araimi	Shingo Terukina		[11]
2013	Moslem Mesigar	11	Ozu Moreira	Simon Jaeger		[12]
2015	Takasuke Goto	8	Ozu Moreira	Peyman Hosseini		[13]
2017	Mohammadali Mokhtari	12	Mohammadali Mokhtari	not awarded	Iran	[14]
2019	Ozu Moreira	9	Ozu Moreira	not awarded	United Arab Emirates	[15]
2023	Takuya Akaguma	11	Moslem Mesigar	Mahdi Mirjalili	Oman	[16]
2025	Ali Mirshekari	12	Ali Mirshekari	Mahdi Mirjalili

In 2017 and 2019, the "best goalkeeper" was not awarded. However, the goalkeepers chosen for the "dream team" of the tournament may be considered as the de facto best goalkeepers for these years.

By nationality

Rank	Team	Awards
1	Iran	13
2	Japan	12
3	United Arab Emirates	4
4	Oman	3
5	Bahrain	2
6	Australia	1

Team of the tournament

Since 2017, the competition's Technical Study Group have produced a post-tournament report including a dream and reserve "team of the tournament".

Year	Dream team	Reserve team	Ref.
2017	Shingo Terukina (GK) Ozu Moreira (DF) Ahmed Beshr (DF) Mohammad Ahmadzadeh (FW) Mohammadali Mokhtari (FW)	Peyman Hosseini (GK) Hassan Abdollahi (DF) Ali Karim (MF) Takaaki Oba (MF) Mohamad Merhi (FW)	[17]
2019	Mohamed Abdulla (GK) Ozu Moreira (DF) Waleed Beshr (DF) Yahya Abyoua (FW) Shusei Yamauchi (FW)	Shingo Terukina (GK) Maisara Alawwab (DF) Mushel Hilal (DF) Walid Mohammad (DF) Takuya Akaguma (FW)	[18]
2023	Mahdi Mirjalili (GK) Ozu Moreira (DF) Moslem Mesigar (FW) Takuya Akaguma (FW) Khalid Al Oraimi (FW)	Shinya Shibamoto (GK) Ali Mohammadi (DF) Mohammadali Mokhtari (FW) Sami Al Balushi (FW) Ali Mirshekari (FW)	[19]

Appearances and performance timeline

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.

Legend

1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
5th–16th – Fifth to sixteenth place

Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
× – Did not enter
•• – Entered but withdrew
– Hosts
Apps – No. of appearances

Timeline

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
Afghanistan	×	×	×	×	••	11th	×	6th	12th	13th	16th	5
Australia	×	×	×	5th	×	4th	×	×	×	×	×	2
Bahrain	1st	4th	×	2nd	6th	9th	7th	5th	6th	6th	8th	10
China	4th	5th	4th	7th	5th	7th	6th	12th	9th	7th	12th	11
India	×	6th	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	15th	2
Indonesia	×	×	×	×	11th	×	×	×	×	16th	11th	3
Iran	3rd	3rd	3rd	4th	3rd	1st	3rd	1st	7th	1st	1st	11
Iraq	×	×	×	×	9th	10th	12th	9th	13th	×	14th	6
Japan	2nd	2nd	2nd	1st	1st	2nd	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	11
Kuwait	×	×	×	×	10th	×	9th	×	11th	8th	9th	5
Kyrgyzstan	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	15th	14th	×	2
Laos	×	×	×	×	×	×	10th	×	×	×	×	1
Lebanon	×	×	×	×	×	8th	4th	4th	5th	10th	7th	6
Malaysia	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	8th	8th	15th	10th	4
Oman	×	×	×	3rd	2nd	5th	1st	7th	3rd	3rd	2nd	8
Palestine	×	×	×	×	••	6th	••	×	4th	11th	×	3
Philippines	6th	×	6th	×	×	16th	×	×	×	×	×	3
Qatar	×	×	×	×	••	15th	14th	11th	14th	×	×	4
Saudi Arabia	×	×	×	×	×	12th	×	×	×	9th	4th	3
Syria	×	×	×	×	8th	×	×	×	×	×	×	1
Thailand	×	×	×	×	×	13th	13th	10th	10th	5th	5th	6
United Arab Emirates	5th	1st	1st	×	4th	3rd	5th	2nd	2nd	4th	6th	10
Uzbekistan	×	×	5th	6th	7th	14th	8th	••	×	12th	×	6
Vietnam	×	×	×	×	×	×	11th	×	×	×	13th	2

Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup

The following is a performance timeline of the AFC teams who have appeared in the Beach Soccer World Cup since being sanctioned by FIFA in 2005.

Legend

1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
– Hosts

QF – Quarter-finals
R1 – Round 1 (group stage)
q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
Total – Total times qualified for World Cup

Team \ Years	2005^[†]	2006	2007	2008	2009	2011	2013	2015	2017	2019	2021^[†]	2023	2025	Total
Bahrain		QF			R1									2
Iran		R1	R1	R1		R1	QF	QF	3rd			3rd	Q	9
Japan	4th	QF	R1	R1	QF	R1	QF	QF	R1	4th	2nd	QF	Q	13
Oman						R1		R1		R1	R1	R1	Q	6
Thailand	R1													1
United Arab Emirates			R1	R1	R1		R1		R1	R1	R1	QF		8

Notes

In 2005 and 2021, no AFC qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup were held and teams were selected to represent AFC (2005: Japan and Thailand; 2021: Japan, Oman and United Arab Emirates).