In competitive beach soccer, the world cup is the sport's paramount competition. It is contested by senior men's national teams. To date, two iterations of a world cup in beach soccer have existed. The first was the Beach Soccer World Championships which ran annually from 1995 to 2004. FIFA then became the governing body of the sport. As a result, the World Championships were abolished and replaced by the second and current iteration, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which began in 2005 and was also held annually; since 2009, it has been a biennial event. Whilst being two independently governed competitions, both have occurred to determine the same outcome: the world champions in beach soccer.
