| Asian teams vie to qualify for Beach Soccer World Cup |
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| Thursday, 24 April 2008 | |
 DUBAI - The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2008 Qualifier for the Asian continent is coming to Dubai from May 6 to 10. For a second consecutive year, the fairytale tourist city will organise the Asian Qualifying event for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which will be leaving Brazil’s Copacabana Beach for the first time ever and will start its journey around the world in Marseille, France from July 17 to 27. Six Asian Nations will battle it out at the “Jumeirah Beach Park” for three berths to the global showpiece where 16 teams will try to take home the most prestigious trophy of the year. Five countries have already qualified for the World Cup, Solomon Islands*, Cameroon, Senegal, Mexico and El Salvador can already book their flights to the French Riviera after winning their respective qualifying tournament and join host France at the Marseille showdown. There are 4 other qualifying tournaments besides the one in Dubai. There was one in Durban (South Africa) for the African Zone, one in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) for the CONCACAF Zone and two that are yet to be played in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Benidorm (Spain). 15 teams will qualify for the World Cup through these tournaments and will join host France in the official draw for the World Cup which will take place immediately after the final of the Qualifier for the European zone in Benidorm on May 18. Last year host UAE dominated the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifier Dubai and get another chance to reach continental glory in front of their home crowd in this year’s edition. The official draw for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2008 Qualifier Dubai took place on April 16 at Beach Soccer Worldwide headquarters in Barcelona, Spain with the following outcome: Group A A1 United Arab Emirates A2 China A3 Uzbekistan Group B B1 Japan B2 Iran B3 Philippines Every continent has to be represented at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. As there is no qualifying tournament for Oceania in 2008, the Solomon Islands are automatically qualified as winners of the two previous editions. |
