Beach Soccer World Cup 2025: Senegal last African side standing

With two debutants in Seychelles, the host nation, and Mauritania, Africa failed to match the heavyweights at the 2025 Beach Soccer World Cup. Only Senegal, the undisputed kings of the discipline on the continent, have reached the quarter-finals.

A tough introduction for Mauritania and Seychelles

It was a brutal learning curve for Seychelles and Mauritania on their first appearance in the finals of the Beach Soccer World Cup. The hosts first lost to Belarus (3-6) in their opening match, then followed it with two more defeats, against Guatemala (3-4) and Japan (2-10).

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For their part, Mauritania, drawn in Group B, also finished without a point on their debut. The Mourabitounes of the sand narrowly lost to Iran (4-5) in their opener, then to Portugal (4-8), and suffered a third defeat in as many games against Paraguay (5-9) on the final group matchday. It was a difficult first outing for these two newcomers to the competition, but there are plenty of lessons to learn as they look to come back stronger next time.

Can Senegal make history?

Eliminated in the group stage at the last edition, Senegal have got out of the group this time. The Lions of the sand will play in their fourth beach soccer World Cup quarter-final, after 2007, 2017 and 2019. Italy stand in the way of Ngalla Sylla's men on 8 May for a place in the semi-finals. Africa's best performance at the Beach Soccer World Cup belongs to Senegal, who finished 4th in Russia in 2021. The Lions would do well to improve on that this time and write their name even further into the history books.