It took 359 games until a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup™ match finally finished goalless. One had been 52 seconds away when Gaston Laduche grabbed the only goal for Uruguay against Mexico in 2019. Deadlock remained intact through normal and extra time between Italy and United Arab Emirates in Dubai, before Humaid Jamal inspired the hosts to the lowest-scoring victory in the competition’s history via penalties.

Josep Jr astonishingly played 158 minutes and two seconds of action – considerably more than any other outfield player. It is extraordinary considering he only had ACL surgery in July and was expected to miss the tournament. Josep was followed by his Italy team-mate Luca Bertecca (140 minutes & 51 seconds) and Belarus defender Mikita Chaikouski (129 minutes & 49 seconds). Goalkeeper Mikhail Avgustav saw the most action overall: 219 minutes and 38 seconds, all but two minutes and 22 seconds of the Belarussian campaign.

Marco Octavio became the oldest coach to conquer a FIFA competition. The 68-year-old Brazil boss and his Portugal counterpart Mario Narciso, 70, had boasted the oldest combined age of two coaches facing one another in the history of any game in a FIFA tournament (131 years).

Spain’s Dona and Moslem Mesigar of IR Iran set a new record for playing in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups the longest time apart: 17 years. Portugal legend Belchior had held the record at 16 years.

Ihar Bryshtsel became only the seventh player to register 12 goals in one edition of the competition after Madjer (four times), Gabriele Gori (two), Andre, Benjamin, Glenn Hodel and Dejan Stankovic.

Goalkeepers registered 11 goals – a record for a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Three of them came from Iran team-mates in the same game – another unprecedented feat – with Hamid Behzadpour and Seyed Mirjalili ultimately scoring five times between them at UAE 2024 Dubai. The other goals came from Mikhail Avgustov, Austin Collier, Dona, Ousseynou Faye, Yusuke Kawai and Chris Toth.

It took United Arab Emirates eight attempts to progress from the group stage of the competition. USA now hold the unwanted distinction of having been to the most FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups without reaching the knockout phase: seven.

Movahed Mohammadpour made an unparalleled six assists at the tournament – one every 19 minutes of action. He was followed by his Iran team-mate Hamid Behzadpour (five), Japan’s Yusuke Kawai (four), Filipe of Brazil (four), Portugal pair Leo Martins and Pedro Mano (four apiece), and Brazil duo Bobo and Mauricinho (four apiece).

Brazil became the first team in beach soccer, football or futsal to win six world titles. The same nation has five apiece on grass and courts. The Seleção have now conquered half of the 12 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups.Leo Martins became the first player in history to register five goals in back-to-back games – a rare goalscoring feat his former Portugal team-mate Madjer didn’t manage.

Iran and Tahiti became just the third and fourth teams to recover a three-goal deficit and win a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup game – and they both did it against Spain. Team Melli trailed 3-0 and 5-2, but ultimately prevailed on penalties. The Warrior Gods, for their part, emerged 5-3 victors after the Spaniards soared into a 3-0 lead. Côte d’Ivoire, 5-1 down to El Salvador in 2009, won 7-5, while Portugal won by the same scoreline after being 3-0 behind at the same tournament.

Rodrigo became just the fifth player to score a three times in the final after Anthony Mendy for France (2005), Andre for Brazil (2011), Dmitrii Shishin for Russia (2011) and Jordan for Portugal (2019).