Beach World Cup announced

FIFA have announced the first official beach soccer World Cup is set to take place this summer in Brazil.

The world governing body for the sport have set up a subsidiary organisation to oversee the competition, which will initially feature 12 teams from across FIFA’s confederations.

“Beach soccer is an immensely attractive and exciting variation of association football. Since being introduced just over a decade ago, the sport has grown steadily in terms of popularity and sophistication,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

“It is therefore absolutely logical for FIFA, the governing body of football, to extend its reach into beach soccer and we look forward to bringing all of the knowledge and expertise that FIFA has to improving beach soccer, whilst being careful to preserve the sense of spontaneity and fun that are essential to the sport.”