Official draw for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019 takes place on Friday
Ceremony will be streamed live on FIFA.com and FIFATV on YouTube
FIFA.com breaks down everything you need to know ahead of the big event
The draw for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019, the tenth edition of the competition, takes place this week, with the 16 participating nations learning their fate.
FIFA.com gives you the lowdown.
When and where
🗓 Date: Friday 13 September
🕢 Time: 19:30 local time (01:30 CEST Saturday)
🏢 Venue: CONMEBOL Convention Centre, Asuncion
📺 Watch it live!
The draw ceremony will be streamed live on FIFA.com and FIFATV on YouTube.
Draw assistants
Attending the draw will be two star guests: former Paraguay international Roberto Acuna and former Brazil international Júnior.
Toro (“The Bull”) Acuna represented his country at three FIFA World Cup™ competitions (1998, 2002 and 2006) and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015, and has become an ambassador for the discipline both in Paraguay and South America.
Júnior made 74 appearances for Brazil between 1979 and 1992, winning two World Cups (1982 and 1986). He also took part in several Beach Soccer World Championships with his country, winning top scorer and best player awards along the way. He played for the Brazilian beach soccer national team between 1993 and 2001, racking up an impressive 201 goals in total.
The pots
| POT 1 | POT 2 | POT 3 | POT 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paraguay 🇵🇾 | Italy 🇮🇹 | Switzerland 🇨🇭 | Oman 🇴🇲 |
| Brazil 🇧🇷 | Portugal 🇵🇹 | Mexico 🇲🇽 | USA 🇺🇸 |
| Russia 🇷🇺 | Japan 🇯🇵 | Nigeria 🇳🇬 | Uruguay 🇺🇾 |
| Tahiti 🇵🇫 | Senegal 🇸🇳 | UAE 🇦🇪 | Belarus 🇧🇾 |
How it works
The four pots containing the teams are numbered 1 to 4.
Marked A to D, the four pots representing the groups each contain four balls with the positions in each group (1, 2, 3 and 4).
The draw will begin with Pot 1 and end with Pot 4. All the balls will be drawn from one national team pot before moving on to the next.
A ball will be drawn from a national team pot first of all. A ball will then be drawn from the group pot to allocate the team’s position in the group.
Draw criteria
As the host nation, Paraguay will be the red ball in Pot 1 and will be allocated to position A1. Defending champions Brazil will be the yellow ball in that same pot and will be allocated to position D1.
FIFA will once again apply the principle of preventing two teams from the same confederation being drawn into the same group, with the exception of Europe, which is represented by five teams. Each group shall have at least one European team, with one having two.