2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship

2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship

2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CONCACAF qualifier
Tournament details
Host country	Costa Rica
City	San Rafael de Alajuela
Dates	17–23 May
Teams	11 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	El Salvador (2nd title)
Runners-up	United States
Third place	Guatemala
Fourth place	Mexico
Tournament statistics
Matches played	23
Goals scored	211 (9.17 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Frank Velásquez (11 goals)
Best player(s)	Rubén Batres
Best young player	Antonio Chávez
Best goalkeeper	Eliodoro Portillo
Fair play award	Mexico
← 2019 2023 →

The 2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship was the ninth edition of the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship, the premier beach soccer tournament contested by North, Central American and Caribbean men's national teams and organised the governing body of football in North America, CONCACAF. The tournament took place at the Sports Complex Fedefutbol-Plycem in San Rafael District, Alajuela, Costa Rica between 17 and 23 May 2021, with 12 nations contesting the title.^[1][2]

Mexico were the defending champions, but lost in the third-place match. El Salvador dominated the tournament, scoring fifty goals in six matches, and won their second title after beating the United States in the final, while Guatemala defeated Mexico to finish third.

The championship also acted as the CONCACAF qualification tournament for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. El Salvador and the United States, as the top two teams, qualified for the World Cup as the representatives from CONCACAF.

A total of 12 teams entered the tournament.^[1][2]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
Bahamas	7th	Quarter-finals (2015, 2017, 2019)
Belize	4th	Round 1 (2015, 2017, 2019)
Costa Rica (hosts)	9th	Runners-up (2009, 2015)
Dominican Republic	1st	Debut
El Salvador	8th	Champions (2009)
Guadeloupe	4th	Fourth place (2017)
Guatemala	5th	Quarter-finals (2015, 2019)
Mexico (title holders)	9th	Champions (2008, 2011, 2015, 2019)
Panama	4th	Champions (2017)
Trinidad and Tobago	5th	Quarter-finals (2015, 2017, 2019)
Turks and Caicos Islands	4th	Round 1 (2015, 2017, 2019)
United States	9th	Champions (2006, 2013)

The draw to split the 12 teams into three groups of four was held at 11:00 EST on 8 March 2021 at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, United States.^[1][2][3]

The procedure was as follows:^[4]

The teams were first divided into four pots of three based on their CONCACAF Beach Soccer Ranking as of December 2019. The highest ranked teams were placed in Pot 1, down through to the lowest ranked teams placed in Pot 4. The three teams in Pot 1 were seeded and each automatically assigned to the head of one of the groups. The teams from Pots 2–4 were then drawn, drawing all teams from one pot before moving onto the next. From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A, the second team drawn placed into Group B and the final team drawn placed into Group C.

Pot 1 (seeds)	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Mexico (1) (assigned to A1)  El Salvador (2) (assigned to B1)  United States (3) (assigned to C1)	Panama (4)  Costa Rica (5) (hosts)  Bahamas (6)	Guadeloupe (7)  Trinidad and Tobago (8)  Guatemala (9)	Belize (13)  Turks and Caicos Islands (16)  Dominican Republic (n/a)

The numbers in parentheses show the CONCACAF ranking of the teams as of December 2019, out of 19 nations.^[5]

The following 15 officials that will referee the tournament were revealed on 5 May.^[6]

Each team had to submit a squad of 12 players (including a minimum of two goalkeepers), from an initial provisional squad of 20 players (Regulations Articles 10.1; 10.2).^[7]

The final rosters were revealed on 11 May.^[8]

Players and staff were required to take regular COVID-19 tests during the competition, in respect to health and safety controls regarding the COVID-19 pandemic:

• On 17 May, one player and one member of staff from the Dominican Republic tested positive and were required to self-isolate. The match schedule was unaffected.^[9]
• On 18 May, one player from the United States tested positive and was required to self-isolate. The match schedule was unaffected.^[10]

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 and the two best third placed teams advance to the quarter-finals.^[1][2]

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in each group is determined as follows (Regulations Article 12.5):^[7]

1. Points obtained in all group matches;
2. Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
3. Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
4. Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
   • Yellow card: −1 points;
   • Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
   • Direct red card: −4 points;
   • Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CST (UTC−6).^[11]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico	2	2	0	0	0	11	6	+5	6	Knockout stage
2	Panama	2	1	0	0	1	11	6	+5	3
3	Belize	2	0	0	0	2	4	14	−10	0
4	Guadeloupe[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	El Salvador	3	3	0	0	0	29	4	+25	9	Knockout stage
2	Guatemala	3	1	0	1	1	14	11	+3	4
3	Bahamas	3	1	0	0	2	15	12	+3	3
4	Dominican Republic	3	0	0	0	3	4	35	−31	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Costa Rica (H)	3	3	0	0	0	15	8	+7	9	Knockout stage
2	United States	3	2	0	0	1	20	8	+12	6
3	Trinidad and Tobago	3	1	0	0	2	12	15	−3	3
4	Turks and Caicos Islands	3	0	0	0	3	7	23	−16	0

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Since Group A consisted of three teams, for the two third placed teams from Groups B and C, their results against the teams finishing in fourth place in their groups were discounted for this ranking.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B	Bahamas[a]	2	0	0	0	2	5	10	−5	0	Knockout stage
2	C	Trinidad and Tobago[a]	2	0	0	0	2	5	10	−5	0
3	A	Belize	2	0	0	0	2	4	14	−10	0

20 May was allocated as a rest day.^[11]

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	21 May – San Rafael
	Mexico (a.e.t.)	5
					22 May – San Rafael
	Bahamas	4
					Mexico	2
	21 May – San Rafael
					United States	5
	Panama	3
									23 May – San Rafael
	United States	4
									United States	4
	21 May – San Rafael
									El Salvador	6
	El Salvador	9
					22 May – San Rafael
	Trinidad and Tobago	2
					El Salvador	6
	21 May – San Rafael
					Guatemala	2			Third place match
	Costa Rica	4
									23 May – San Rafael
	Guatemala	6
									Mexico	2
									Guatemala	5

Winners qualify for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship champions
El Salvador Second title

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:^[14]

Golden Ball (Best player)
Ruben Batres
Golden Boot (Top scorer)
Frank Velásquez
11 goals
Golden Glove (Best goalkeeper)
Eliodoro Portillo
Best Young Player
Antonio Chávez
Fair Play Award
Mexico

Players with at least 5 goals are listed

11 goals

10 goals

9 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

Source: CONCACAF.com^[15]

Qualified for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Rank	Team
	El Salvador
	United States
	Guatemala
4	Mexico
5–8	Bahamas
	Costa Rica
	Panama
	Trinidad and Tobago
9–11	Belize
	Dominican Republic
	Turks and Caicos Islands

The following two teams from CONCACAF qualify for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup1 only FIFA era (since 2005)
United States	22 May 2021	5 (2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2019)
El Salvador	22 May 2021	4 (2008, 2009, 2011, 2013)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

• 2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championship

• CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship, CONCACAF.com
• Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship Costa Rica 2021 Archived 2021-04-18 at the Wayback Machine, at Beach Soccer Worldwide