[1] Held in tandem with the women's tournament, the two events comprised the beach soccer competition at this year's Games.

[7] The six continental zones of FIFA were each allocated a share of 16 berths at the Games,[2] ensuring all continents would be represented at the event.

The following teams qualified from their zones via regional preliminary tournaments or based on their world ranking (hosts Qatar were eligible to enter a team automatically however declined to enter):[1][3] The matches were held on the Katara Beach[5] at the Beach Soccer Arena which consisted of two venues: the larger-capacity main stadium that hosted the majority of games and located adjacent, a smaller-capacity secondary stadium known as "Pitch 1" for all other matches which was only used during the group stage.

[2][17] The draw to split the 16 teams into four groups of four took place at 10:00 AST (UTC+3) on 27 August 2019 at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar.

[18] The composition of the pots is shown below (World Ranking in parentheses):[20] Four of the 16 nations, the winners of each group, advance to the knockout stage.