Blessed with a beautiful long coastline, Da Nang has great potential of promoting the development of beach soccer.

Men's beach football has gradually developed and become a strong sport of Da Nang. Photo: P.N

Beach soccer is different from regular football in some ways. A game consists of three periods, each of 12 minutes. Five players make the team on the pitch, and a matchday squad consists of 12 players. The game allows unlimited rolling substitutions. Beach soccer emphasises skills, agility and accuracy because players find it more difficult to move and control the ball on the sand than other forms of competition. Beach soccer pitches are much smaller than regular soccer fields.

According to Mr. Le Van Ngan who is charge of sports at the Centre for Culture - Information and Sports based in Son Tra District, since 2013, beach football has been included in the list of sports at the district-level Sports Game. Over recent years, the district's beach soccer team has achieved many good achievements at municipal-level beach soccer tournaments. At the recently 9^th edition of the municipal-level Sports Game, Son Tra District won the first prize in the men's beach soccer team.

Along with Son Tra District, beach soccer movements have been developed widely in Ngu Hanh Son District.

Mr. Huynh Ba Duong, Deputy Director of the Ngu Hanh Son District-based Centre for Culture - Information and Sports, the centre coordinates with units and localities to organise beach soccer tournaments every year in order to create conditions for local players to exchange and learn from competition experience. The tournaments attract the participation of a large number of residents and visitors.

In recent years, the city’s beach soccer team have continuously achieved success in national beach soccer championships.

In particular, the Da Nang team were crowned the champions of the recently-concluded National Beach Soccer Championship 2022 in Sam Son City, Thanh Hoa Province. This is the 4^th time the city men's beach soccer team have won the championships.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Thao, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports, remarked, to gradually bring beach football to the next level, every year, the city organises a beach soccer tournament with the aim of facilitating athletes to improve their performances.

“The Department of Culture and Sports has just proposed the municipal People's Committee to allocate a part of the Son Thuy Beach in Ngu Hanh Son District to establish a beach sports club. Once operational, the venue will fully meet demands of athletes for participating in training and entertainment activities, thereby, contributing to promoting and developing tourism activities and sea services in the city” Director Thao added.

Reporting by PHI NONG - Translating by M.DUNG