Iran crowned Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup 2019 champions [VIDEO]
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Loading...Tehran Times – DUBAI, Title-holders Iran defeated Spain 6-3 at the 2019 Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup final match at Jumeirah’s Kite Beach on Saturday.
Iran won the competition for the third time. The Persians had already won the title in 2013 and 2018.
Mostafa Kiani (penalty), Saeid Piramoun, Mohammad Mokhtari, Hamid Behzadpour, Mohammad Ahmadzadeh and Mohammad Masoumizadeh scored for Team Melli.
Llorenç, Eduard and Adrian (penalty) were on target for Spain.
Iran’s Amirhossein Akbari was named as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals.
Earlier on the day, the UAE defeated Russia 2-1 in the third-place playoff.
Iran are the best ranked beach soccer team in Asia and sit fifth in the world behind Brazil, Russia, Portugal and Italy.
Iran have won the AFC Beach Soccer Championship a record two times (2013, 2017).
Team Melli have also appeared in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup seven times, reaching the quarterfinals on three occasions (2013, 2015, 2017), and finishing in third place once (2017).
The Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup is an international beach soccer tournament which is held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates every November as the finale of the competitive international beach soccer season. The invitation-only tournament has been held annually since the inaugural edition in 2011. It will continue until at least 2020.
The Intercontinental Cup is second only to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup as the largest and most prestigious event on the international beach soccer circuit, featuring an exclusive assembly of the world’s very best national teams from each continent. Since the World Cup is a biannual competition, this event is now the most important annual international beach soccer tournament.
