by Fernando Gomes, president of the FPF (Federação Portuguesa de Futebol)
It is a great honor to host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015. I consider it a very pertinent choice due to historical, cultural and sportive reasons.
Portugal is, as I highlighted when the bid to host the event was submitted, a country whose identity is strongly related to the sea, the beaches and the warm hospitality of its people.
It is the country poet Luis de Camões immortalized in the Os Lusíadas when referring to the navigators sailing from the occidental Lusitanian beach, and building a new kingdom amongst people from far away. A kingdom they had always dreamed of…
We are now ready, just like our navigators were, to decisively contribute to the development and the settling of a sport that, despite is still young, has a major exposure among the Portuguese people and all football lovers.
Portugal will host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015, and it will do so under the promise of raising the bar to an unreached level. Our aim is to spread relevant values such as multiculturalism, social inclusion, and environmental care.
We are committed to deliver the event in the finest conditions, in terms of security, healthcare, transportation and communications, making sure that such beach soccer festival banks the power to reach all its fans in the best possible fashion.
To honor our commitment, we offer the joy, the friendship and the hospitality of a country almost 900 years old, and the courage of those who have has before sailed to discover the world.
Beach soccer is, fortunately, a case of success in Portugal. Still in an embryonic phase of the development of the sport, before FIFA organized the WC, Portugal participated, between 1995 and 2006, in 6 final phases of the competition, conquering the World Cup in 2001; the second place in 1999 and 2002; and the third place in 2003 and 2004.
After FIFA took over the organization of the World Cup, Portugal proved its beach soccer talent when conquering the second place in 2005 and the third place in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
And the Portuguese players will always be a part of the beautiful history of the beach soccer.
Madjer conquered 4 trophies of best scorer in different World Cups, and was considered to be the best player in the tournament in two consecutive editions. It is still today, by far, the best scorer of all times in the sport’s biggest showcase.
Investment, results, audience, party and talent, are the key words for our relationship with beach soccer. And we are extremely motivated to host this World Cup.
For this big event, we all work together as one: Federação Portuguesa de Futebol, FIFA, FIFA Beach Soccer, Beach Soccer Worldwide, Câmara Municipal de Espinho, and all football and beach soccer fans.
Our commitment is to spread beach soccer to all corners of the globe and to contribute to its development globally.
High quality broadcasting, flawless distribution worldwide, hospitality and an outmost respect for the brands that support the sport, are the footprints we wish to leave behind in the historical patrimony of beach soccer. And we are sure to accomplish it.
In this regards, I am happy to announce that the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup will count on more than 1500 hours of TV production and will be broadcasted to approximately 170 countries of all continents.
The crowd will respond, too. We are sure that the stadium will be full in most of the matches, which will be watched by more than 80 million people worldwide.
For almost a month, the beautiful Baía beach will feature state-of-the-art stadium with all the necessary conditions for a beach soccer top-flight event.
