Beach Soccer Makes Major Leaps and a Distinctive Start

2025-04-27
18:44:44

Beach soccer in the Kingdom has made a remarkable start in the first season of the Premier League, which followed last season's classification league, with 48 teams participating.
The leap achieved by beach soccer in the Kingdom is part of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation's efforts to achieve the goals of the Saudi Football Transformation Strategy, launched in September 2021. One of its main pillars is the competitions track, which aims to provide a competitive competition environment and build a competitive national team with a base of players who practice the game on a regular basis.
Beach soccer competitions in the Kingdom launched last season, 2023-2024, with the classification league featuring 48 teams. Eight teams advanced to the final rounds, before Heraa Club won the title at the expense of Al-Ettifaq Club.
The first edition of the Saudi Beach Soccer Premier League for the 2024-2025 season saw the participation of eight teams: Al-Ghazwah, Al-Salam, Al-Taawoun, Al-Mahmal, Al-Watan, Najd, Al-Khubra, and Al-Laith Club. The matches were hosted at the Mahd Academy in Riyadh.
Al-Taawoun was crowned champion of the first edition of the league last February, finishing the competition with a perfect score of 14 wins from 14 matches, earning 42 points, 12 points ahead of runner-up Al-Mahmal (30 points). Al-Ghazwa finished third with 25 points, while Al-Watan finished fourth with 24 points, on goal difference ahead of Najd, who finished fifth. Al-Salam finished sixth with 12 points, while Al-Khubra and Al-Laith were relegated after finishing seventh and eighth with three points each.
The technical management held a training course for the game's coaches, attended by nine coaches, with the participation of Bahraini lecturer Salah Salman, who explained various technical applications to the participating coaches, in addition to theoretical and practical tests.
Internationally, the national beach soccer team achieved a historic achievement by qualifying for the semi-finals of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship.
This is the first time the "Green Beach Soccer Team" has qualified for the semi-finals of the Asian Championship, in only their third participation in the tournament.
In just six years, the national beach soccer team has achieved a historic leap in the world rankings, rising from 114th in 2019 to 19th in 2025. This reflects the rising level of Saudi beach soccer, positioning itself among the Asian powers in the game.
Saudi beach soccer is expected to witness greater participation in the coming period, given the game's popularity. This will enable the Saudi Federation to discover more talent, contributing to the formation of a core of national teams in preparation for international competitions.