Beach Soccer set to launch in India by Beach Soccer Worldwide

Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is set to organize India's first professional Beach Soccer Championship in Goa. The Goa Football Association (GFA) and the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) are backing the officially sanctioned event, which will become a bi-annual feature in India. The tournament will see the participation of prominent players from Goa's popular football clubs and other prominent teams from around the country.

This first edition of the tournament will be held in Goa from February 7 to 10 February in accordance with official sporting rules as laid out by BSWW. The tournament boasts of an exciting format of the sport of soccer, one that requires a fun surrounding, the right attitude and minimal equipment.

The Teams will comprise of 10 players each – 5 on field and 5 as substitutes. The duration of play will include three periods of 12 minutes each, with a break of 3 minutes. In case of a tie at the end of regular time, there's a 3-minute extra time, before the penalty shootout. The Beach Soccer tournament in February 2013 will see the teams battle it out for a grand prize of Rs. 2 lakhs and will take home the champions trophy. This is the first step towards building a strong and scalable talent pool for this young and exciting sport.

Mumbai-based TransStadia is investing and managing the much-awaited sporting event in an attempt to introduce and develop the sport in India that is already played in 75 countries within the six FIFA Confederation zones. Over fifty soccer teams from across the country are all set to descend on Goa's beaches and battle it out in a sport that was on born on the beaches of Brazil. Four world-class pitches and a world-class arena will be set up to give spectators' an exhilarating experience, using the T-Box modular stadia technology.

Delighted to be associated with the event, Shrinivas Dempo, Goa FA President, stated, "Considering the ready infrastructure available for Beach Soccer in Goa, and the available talent, we are excited to be associated with this sport. Beach Soccer will serve as a natural academy for our footballing community. Football has been declared Goa's official sport and we are proud to give it a new dimension through this championship."

Commenting on Beach Soccer in India, Dr Rufino Monteiro, Chairman of Goa Football Development Council, said, "We are delighted to be part of this new and exciting initiative and welcome Beach Soccer to India in this grand form. It offers local talent an excellent platform to display their skills and work towards making this a career opportunity. We would like to encourage more of such trendsetting events and increase the popularity of the format in the seasons to come. Goa is an ideal natural home, to launch this sport in this manner."

Joan Cusco, Beach Soccer Worldwide Executive Vice-president, expressed, "We are proud to see this sport take up in the traditional capital of football in India, and believe this is a giant step towards India’s participation in Beach Soccer. We hope to see more talent emerging from India, and look forward to India’s participation on the global stage. We congratulate the authorities in taking such pro-active steps towards this sport."

For registering your team, log on to www.beachsoccer.in or www.barefootfest.com . Registration is for free!