to conclude until weeks after the World Cup had taken place. This separate knockout tournament, dedicated purely to determining the teams qualifying to the World Cup, was organised instead; free to be placed anywhere in the calendar, it took place in the May. It "made history", becoming the biggest international beach soccer event ever held at the time with 24 participants. It has since returned in all future years as Europe's qualification tournament. The organisers, Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), decided not to revert to using the EBSL. Results For all tournaments, the top four teams qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (except for 2009 and 2019, when the top five teams qualified). Performance Successful nations Awards All-time top goalscorers As of 2021 The following table shows the all-time top 25 goalscorers. Source: Match reports. (However, note that some match reports are incomplete resulting in nine undocumented goalscorers (Italy 4, Azerbaijan 4, Romania 1) which, if they were to be known, may affect the table below.). All-time table As of 2021 Key: Appearances App / Won in normal time W = 3 points / Won in extra-time W+ = 2 points / Won on penalty shoot-out WP = 1 point / Lost L = 0 points / Points per game PPG Appearances & performance timeline The following is a performance timeline of the teams who have appeared in the UEFA qualifiers and how many appearances they each have made. Legend – Champions – Runners-up – Third place – Fourth place – Fifth place (if qualified to World Cup) 5th...16th – Fifth to sixteenth place R3 – Round 3 (Quarter-finals or 2nd group stage) R2 – Round 2 (round of 16) R1 – Round 1 (group stage) •• – Entered but withdrew × – Did not enter – Did not enter (because already qualified to World Cup as hosts) – Hosts Apps – No. of appearances Timeline Performance of qualifiers at the World Cup The following is a performance timeline of the UEFA teams who have gone on to appear in the World Cup, having qualified from the above events. Legend – Champions – Runners-up – Third place – Fourth place – Hosts (qualify automatically) QF – Quarter-finals R1 – Round 1 (group stage) •• – Qualified but withdrew q – Qualified for upcoming tournament Total – Total times qualified for World Cup Timeline Notes The fifth placed team does