2018 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations

2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations qualification
Tournament details
Dates	7–22 September
Teams	10 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	4
Goals scored	31 (7.75 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Regis Enidiel (5 goals)
	← 2016 2020 ⊟

2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations
2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier
Tournament details
Host country	Egypt
City	Sharm El Sheikh
Dates	8–14 December
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Senegal (5th title)
Runners-up	Nigeria
Third place	Egypt
Fourth place	Morocco
Tournament statistics
Matches played	20
Goals scored	185 (9.25 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Assouan Eric Kablan; Regis Enidiel; (9 goals each)
	← 2016 2021 ⊟

The 2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON),^[1] the premier beach soccer championship in Africa contested by men's national teams who are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Originally organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) under the title FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier^[2] (informally known as CAF Beach Soccer Championship), in 2015, CAF became organisers and began using the BSAFCON title to which the competition was officially renamed the next year.^[3] Overall, this was the 9th edition of the event.^[4]

The tournament was played in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt;^[5] the North African country was awarded the hosting rights as they were the only nation to express interest by the deadline.^[6] The finals were held from 8–14 December.^[7] Qualification took place between 7–23 September.

The event also acted as the qualification route for African teams to the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay; the winners and runners-up qualify.^[8]

Senegal were the defending champions and successfully defended their title, after defeating Nigeria 6–1 in the final to secure their 5th title.

Qualification

The 2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations qualifying rounds determine the eight teams that will compete in the final tournament in December.

The fixtures were approved by CAF on 11 June.^[9]

Qualification ties are played on a home-and-away, two-legged basis. If the sides are level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule is applied, and if still level, the tie proceeds directly to a penalty shoot-out (no extra time is played).^[10]

Hosts of the finals, Egypt, along with the champions and runners up of the last edition, Senegal and Nigeria respectively, received byes in qualifying; ten other nations contested five qualification berths.^[11]

Ghana were due to play but failed to meet participation criteria by the May 31 entry deadline.^[12]

Entrants

Round

Teams entering round

No. of teams

Qualification

Ivory Coast (6th)
Libya (8th)
Kenya (11th)
Madagascar (5th)
Morocco (3rd)

Mozambique (10th)
South Africa (13th)
Sudan (n/a)
Tanzania (12th)
Uganda (16th)

10

Final tournament

Egypt (2nd)
Nigeria (4th)
Senegal (1st)

3

Note: The numbers in parentheses show the African ranking of the teams at the time of the qualification round (out of 20 nations).^[13]

Matches

Summary

The first legs were scheduled for 7–9 September, and the second legs were scheduled for 21–23 September 2018.^[11]

The winners of each tie qualified for the finals.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Uganda	5–7	Ivory Coast	1–3	4–4
Kenya	w/o	Libya	—	—
Tanzania	w/o	South Africa	—	—
Sudan	w/o	Morocco	—	—
Mozambique	9–10	Madagascar	4–5	5–5

Bold: Tie winners; qualified for finals.

Details

9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)	Uganda	1–3	Ivory Coast	Spennah Beach, Entebbe
16:00 UTC 3	Muganga	Report	Kablan Kouassitchi Aka	Referee: Olawale Adeolu Fawole (Nigeria)

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)	Ivory Coast	4–4	Uganda	Parc des sports de Treichville, Abidjan
16:00 UTC±0	Aka Kabletchi Djedjed	Report	Muganga Katwe Alex Lwesibawa	Referee: Youssouph Signate (Senegal)

Ivory Coast won 7–5 on aggregate.

9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)	Kenya	Cancelled	Libya	Pirates Beach, Mombasa
15:00 UTC 3		Report

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)	Libya	Cancelled	Kenya
		Report

Libya won on walkover after Kenya withdrew.

9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)	Tanzania	Cancelled	South Africa	Dar es Salaam
15:00 UTC 3		Report		Referee: Hamdi Bchir (Tunisia)

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)	South Africa	Cancelled	Tanzania
		Report		Referee: Tsaralaza Maolidy (Madagascar)

Tanzania won on walkover after South Africa withdrew.

7 September 2018 (2018-09-07)	Sudan	Cancelled	Morocco
		Report

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)	Morocco	Cancelled	Sudan
		Report

Morocco won on walkover after Sudan withdrew.

9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)	Mozambique	4–5	Madagascar	Afrin Prestige, Maputo
15:00 UTC 2	Ainadine De Jesus Novela Mangue Silvestre	Report	Regis Toky	Referee: Louis Siave (Mauritius)

22 September 2018 (2018-09-22)	Madagascar	5–5	Mozambique	Majunga Beach, Mahajanga
15:00 UTC 3	Razafinilaina Regis Giovanni Richard Flavien	Report	Massingue De Jesus Novela Gerson Malate Ainadine	Referee: Ivan Bayige Kintu (Uganda)

Madagascar won 10–9 on aggregate.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament:^[14]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
Egypt (hosts)	9th	3rd place (2006, 2011, 2016)
Ivory Coast	9th	Runners-up (2009, 2013)
Libya	5th	7th place (2009, 2013)
Madagascar	5th	Champions (2015)
Morocco	7th	3rd place (2013)
Nigeria	9th	Champions (2007, 2009)
Senegal	8th	Champions (2008, 2011, 2013, 2016)
Tanzania	1st	Debut

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 28 October 2018 at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four.^[15]

Initially, two teams were automatically assigned to the groups:^[16]

to Group A: as the hosts, Egypt
to Group B: as the champions of the last edition, Senegal

The remaining six teams were split into two pots: one of two and one of four; the highest seeds were placed in Pot 1 and the lowest seeds were placed in Pot 2. The teams were seeded based on their results in the 2016 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations.^[16] From Pot 1, one team was drawn into Group A and the other team was drawn into Group B; from Pot 2, two teams were drawn into Group A and two teams were drawn into Group B.^[16]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Nigeria Morocco	Madagascar Ivory Coast Libya Tanzania

Referees

The following 21 referees will officiate the tournament:^[17]

Innocent Desire Adjoumani
Wonan Dominique Sidoine Toppe
Tsaralaza Maolidy
Louis Siave
Reetesh Loll
Olawale Adeolu Fawole
Olayanka Olajide
Sani Mohammed
Aly Deme
Mbokh Beye
Oumar Sagna
Youssouph Signate
Fadul Abdelmajeed Adam
Hassan Mohamed Eltoum
Nagi Ali Doka
Yasir Allahgabu Abdelrahman Tootoo
Hamdi Bchir
Med El Habib Hiba
Ivan Kintu
Muhammad Ssenteza
Shafic Mugerwa

Venue

Sharm El Sheikh

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Location of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt

One venue was used in the city of Sharm El Sheikh.^[18]

All matches took place at a purpose built arena at Laguna Vista Beach Resort, known as the Laguna Vista Beach Soccer Stadium, with a capacity of 1,200.^[19]

Squads

Each squad can contain a maximum of 12 players.^[20]

Group stage

Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals.

All times are local, EET (UTC 2).^[21]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt (H)	3	3	0	20	6	14	9	Knockout stage
2	Morocco	3	2	1	12	14	−2	6	Knockout stage
3	Madagascar	3	1	2	10	13	−3	3	Placement stage (5th–8th place)
4	Ivory Coast	3	0	3	10	19	−9	0	Placement stage (5th–8th place)

Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host

8 December 2018