Russia win record fourth Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup

World champions overcome Iran 3-2 in final at Kite Beach

Russia celebrate a record fourth Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup title. Quality Sports Images

Russia lifted the 10th Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup Dubai title after a tense win over Iran 3-2 at the Kite Beach.

The Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup champions have now become the most successful team in the Intercontinental Cup with a fourth title.

Russia‘s Boris Nikonorov was awarded the MVP award and Chiky from Spain, with nine goals, claimed the top scorer trophy. Hamid Behzadpour of Iran won the best goalkeeper award.

The final was a replay of the last Group B game just days before, where the Russians overcame Iran 4-3.

The two nations had met twice before in the Intercontinental Cup final – Iran winning on both occasions.

This time, Boris Nikonorov was the star for Russia. He put his side in front in the first period. Nikonorov then headed the second to double the lead in the next and completed the hat-trick with a spectacular bicycle kick.

Mohammadali Mokthari pulled one back for Iran shortly before the second period and fired in his second to close the gap, but that was as close Iran got in the game.

Meanwhile, Senegal outplayed Portugal in the playoff for third, while the UAE went down 8-3 to Paraguay to finish in last place.

“The last game was a bit of a disappointment but overall we did pretty well even though the results don’t reflect it,” Waleed Beshr, the UAE defender, said of his team’s performance in the competition.

“We won against Spain and Senegal in the group phase and they were the high points of our campaign. We were very unlucky not to qualify for the semi-finals. We pushed Japan and Spain in the playoffs before going down fighting.

“The last game wasn’t the way we wanted to round off the tournament. Maybe we were a bit tired. Nevertheless, we can take a lot of positives from the tournament.”

Playoff results

Paraguay beat UAE 8-3 (for 7th place)

Japan beat Spain 5-4 (5th place)

Senegal beat Portugal 7-4 (3rd place)