The participation of international players such as Eric Cantona, Michel, Julio Salinas, Romário, Júnior and Zico has helped to expand television coverage to audiences in over 170 countries.

The competition was won by the host nation, making Brazil the first-ever World Champions of Beach Soccer.

Commercial interest begin to match developments on the field and growing demand for the sport around the world gave rise to the Pro Beach Soccer Tour in 1996.

The first Pro Beach Soccer Tour included a total of 60 games in two years across South America, Europe, Asia and the United States.

Interest generated by the tour in Europe led to the creation of the European Pro Beach Soccer League in 1998, providing a more solid infrastructure that would increase the professionalism of the spectacle.

EPBSL, now known as the Euro BS League, brought promoters together from across the continent and satisfied the demands of the media, sponsors and fans.

Four years on from its creation, the first step in the building of a legitimate worldwide competition structure for the sport of pro beach soccer had been taken.

One year later they would join forces with Octagon Koch Tavares (who had continued to organise the World Championships and events in South America) to form a single entity known as Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) with the aim of unifying all major Pro Beach Soccer tournaments in the world under the same structure and providing representation of the sport to major sponsors, the media and FIFA.

Such interest has allowed BSWW to strike certain sponsorship deals with international companies including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and MasterCard, who stepped up their involvement in 2004 and are now title sponsors of the Euro BS League.

The win secured the U.S. team a spot in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup held later that year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The tournament played a key role in the development of beach soccer within the region, showcasing emerging talent and promoting the sport's growth.

[12] The NASSC also gained international prominence with the participation of FC Barcelona's beach soccer team, which clinched titles in 2015 and 2017.

[15] A beach soccer field is a level sandy area smaller than a regular association football pitch.

[18] Similar to a power play in ice hockey, this period of numerical advantage ends early if the penalised team concedes a goal.