Rodrigo dazzled as Brazil overcame Italy to seize a historic sixth world title as Iran overpowered Belarus to finish third.
Romario watched on in awe in Dubai District Design Stadium. He had illuminated the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup almost two decades ago, but the man doing so in the UAE 2024 Dubai™ final was from another planet. Rodrigo was utterly unplayable as the Seleção of the sand became the first six-time world champions in beach soccer, futsal or football.
Rodrigo saved his best till last. After flickering his brilliance during Brazil’s first five games, he delivered one of the greatest-ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup final performances in their sixth. The Azzurri performed admirably, but they simply had no answer to the sport’s Best Men’s Player.
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“It’s hard to describe how I feel. I’m really emotional, really, really happy. We’re beyond delighted to have won the sixth title. Now we’ve given the federation a nice problem: where to fit the sixth star on this shirt!”
“We knew it would be a really tough game and it was. We gave it everything. But I’m certain that now everyone knows the Italian national team are a force to be reckoned with. We’ll be back. Congratulations to Brazil.”
Rodrigo became the fifth player to score a treble in the final after Anthony Mendy for France (2005), Andre for Brazil (2011), Dmitrii Shishin for Russia (2011) and Jordan for Portugal (2019).
