[2] Organised by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), national associations of FIFA (beach soccer's governing body) from a territory with a National Olympic Committee (NOC) were invited to enter one team into preliminary qualification routes[2] from which eight teams, representing four continental zones, advanced to the final competition;[1] the hosts Qatar did not enter a team.

The following teams qualified from their zones via regional preliminary tournaments or invitation (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][16] The draw to split the eight teams into two groups of four took place at 10:00 AST (UTC+3) on 27 August 2019 at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar.

[17] At the start of the draw, two teams from Pot 1 were automatically allocated to the groups – Spain (European ranking leaders), were assigned to position A1 and Great Britain, (European ranking deputy leaders (as England)), were assigned to position B1.

[17][19] The composition of the pots is shown below: Four of the eight nations, the winners and runners-up of each group, advance to the knockout stage.