Caf Beach Soccer Championship 2015 - Seychelles drawn alongside giants in group A |08 April 2015

Seychelles will play their opening match of the 2015 Confédération Africaine de Football (Caf) Beach Soccer Championships against two-time champions Nigeria in group A and will also face the challenge of Ivory Coast and Egypt.

Seychelles’ opponents in group A have all had some success in the competition, with Egypt being the only nation not to have qualified for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup.

Ivory Coast have twice finished as runners-up in the African tournament, the last of which came in the 2013 tournament which was won by defending champions and record holders of the competition Senegal. Egypt, meanwhile, have twice finished the competition in third place.

In group B, our neighbours from Madagascar will go up against defending champions Senegal as well as Ghana and Morocco, who have both never qualified for the World Cup.

The competition will kick off on Tuesday April 14 with the opening match between Senegal and Morocco at 3pm at the National Beach Soccer Stadium, while Seychelles’ opening game against Nigeria will take place at 5.30pm.

Seychelles national team coach Bruno told Sports Nation that the team will be using the Cosafa tournament as preparation for the tournament, although his goal is obviously to win it.

“The boys need to get used to playing in this new stadium and to also have the confidence to play in front of a large crowd. Therefore, the Cosafa tournament will give them the opportunity so that they can improve in time for our true aim which is to qualify for the World Cup,” added coach Bruno.

He also stated that he has seen a lot of improvement in the team since he took charge in March and he hopes this will continue even beyond the Caf Beach Soccer Championship.

The Caf Beach Soccer Championship is the main championship for beach soccer in Africa. The first championship was held in September 2006 in Durban, South Africa. The city of Durban hosted all the other tournaments until 2011 when it was moved to Casablanca, Morocco. The two finalists of the competition qualify for the following Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup.

The eight-team Caf championship will feature two Cosafa countries – hosts Seychelles and Madagascar – who recently ousted South Africa in the qualifiers.
Beach soccer has grown in popularity around the world with the next Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup to be played in Portugal later this year.

Brazil has dominated the game in the last two decades, bagging 13 of the 17 World Cups played so far.


S. N.