Case study
LIVE STREAMING WheRE there’s a will, there’s a wave
Sandy toes, beautiful views and acrobatic play – beach soccer is taking the world by storm. However, with unpredictable
conditions and turbulent signals, streaming the event is evolving into the cloud phase //// WORDS BY VERITY BUTLER ////
W ith an estimated following of roughly four billion fans globally – and considered the world’s most played sport – it’s somewhat unsurprising to find there are so many variations of football. From indoor-based futsal to five-a-side, it seems there’s no end of ways to reinvent the basic concept of getting a ball across a pitch and into a net. This is no less true for beach soccer, a sport believed to have come from European sailors in the coastal regions of Brazil towards the end of the 19th century – with its first official tournaments kicking off in 1957. The first ‘unofficial’ World Championships took place in 1995, resulting in the founding of the Beach Soccer Company. The BSC went on to develop the official rule book and concept for the events, launching with the Pro Beach Soccer Tour. As the sport’s popularity grew, the World Championships encouraged awareness in Europe – with France, England, Spain, Germany and Belgium the next to head off the pitch and down to the beach. This tide of international popularity triggered the founding of the Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) federation, which is now the body in charge of organising both World Cups and European
GET YOUR KICKS GRAP face off against Braga in the Euro Winners Cup (right)
GROWING UP A focus on beach soccer development
54 FEED:XTREME SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022
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