Beach Soccer AFCON, Senegal 2021 in numbers
The Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations, Senegal 2021 took place from 23 to 29 May in the seaside resort of Saly Portudal. Senegal, Champions in 2016 and 2018, once again were crowned with the 2021 trophy after beating Mozambique 4-1 in the final.
CAFOnline.com presents the key figures for the 2021 edition.
"102"
• This is the number of goals scored this year in 14 matches played during the tournament.
• The tournament had the rate of 7.3 goals per game.
• Only 38 different players scored during the competition being played in Saly. This number is less than the previous editions organized in Nigeria and Egypt.
In comparison, here are the figures from previous editions:
- Nigeria 2016: 138 goals scored, 18 matches played, an average of 7.7 goals per match and 49 different goal scorers.
- Egypt 2018: 185 goals scored, 20 matches played, an average of 9.3 goals per match and 62 different goal scorers.
"10"
This is the number of goals scored by Mozambican Nelson Manuel, who led the scorers’ standings.
An overview of the top scorers’ ranking:
• In 2016, Senegalese Babacar Fall finished top scorer with 11 goals.
• In 2018, Ivorian Assouan Bile Eric Sidoine scored 10 goals to claim the top scorer trophy.
"7"
This is the number of teams taking part in the final phase of the 2021 Beach Soccer AFCON. The edition was to be held with 8 teams, but the late withdrawal of DR Congo forced Group A to be composed of three teams only.
• Senegal had the best defense of the tournament with only 5 goals conceded.
• Egypt, though eliminated in the group stage, had the tournament’s best attack with 24 goals scored.
• Tanzania and Seychelles each scored 6 goals, the two worst attacks among the teams involved.
The general classification of the teams:
"0"
This is the number of "clean sheets" recorded in the tournament. Each team conceded at least one goal per game.
"4"
This is the number of players in the competition playing outside the African continent. Morocco is the country with the most players abroad:
• Nassim El Hadaoui (Grand Motte Pyramide Beach Soccer, France)
• Kamal El Mahrouk (Grand Motte Pyramide Beach Soccer, France)
• Yassin Kerroum (Garges Djibson, France)
The only other team with a player outside the continent was Senegal, with Papa Ndour (ESN Nogent Le Roi-Paris, France)
"1982"
It is the year of birth of the oldest player in the tournament, in this case the Egyptian striker Hossam Hasan born on 13 November 1982.
The player of the Al Tersana club in Egypt is 38 years and 6 months old.
"1999"
Eric Constantin Manyama (Tanzania) was born on 4 September 1999, which makes him the youngest player of this edition. However, 1999 also saw the year of birth of other players like Nelson Manuel (Mozambique), Stephen Lajoie (Seychelles) and Seydine Diagne (Senegal) among others.
"3"
This is the number of consecutive titles won by Senegal (2016, 2018, 2021) in four editions. The first edition of the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations, held in Seychelles in 2015, saw Madagascar claim the title.
"3"
This is also the number of teams present that have participated in all of the first four editions of Beach Soccer AFCON. These are Egypt, Morocco and Senegal.
Tanzania and Seychelles were participating in their second edition.
Uganda and Mozambique were the competition debutants.
"4"
This is the number of Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations editions organized under the umbrella of CAF.
Previously, African nations competed in the African World Cup qualifiers organized by Beach Soccer World Wide.
Awards
Already top scorer, Mozambique’s Nelson Manuel was also the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, after winning over the public and the technical study group vote.
The trophy for the best goalkeeper went to Al Seyni, Senegal captain. He conceded just 5 goals in four matches played.
For their first appearance in the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations finals, Mozambique claimed silver medals and place at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Russia.