Seychelles will have special reason to want to put on a good show at the 2023 COSAFA Beach Soccer Championships to be staged in Durban from March 17-23 as they prepare to host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup next year.

The Indian Island nation have been awarded the hosting rights for what will eb the biggest event in their football history and must now build a team that can be competitive on the sand.

The team is coached by Herald Kowlessur and recently had a training camp in Dubai.

“It was a good experience for the players and myself as the coach,” Kowlessur said. “We learned a lot from these (training) games and this will now allow us to work on the things that we lack and look to improve.”

Seychelles lost 4-1 to Senegal, 7-1 against Italy, 4-2 versus the United Arab Emirates and 10-4 in a fixture against a mixed selection.

“The teams are technically and tactically more intelligent than us, and while we continue training, we will have to look for more test matches against the toughest teams, in order to improve,” Kowlessur said.

Seychelles have played in the last three edition of the COSAFA Beach Soccer Championships, which included a 3-2 victory over hosts South Africa in 2022.

But that was followed by a pair of 12-2 defeats to powerhouses Senegal and Mozambique as they exited in the pool stage.

They lost both pool encounters in 2021, though they did not go down without a fight and will want to bring that same spirit this time round.
They played their opener against host South Africa and lost 4-2, before an epic 8-6 defeat at the hands of Angola meant they did not qualify for the semifinals.

It put them into the Plate Final, where they again lost 4-5 to fellow islanders Comoros. Hansel Coeur de Lion top-scored for the side with five goals.

Seychelles hosted the inaugural COSAFA Beach Soccer Championship in 2015 and qualified for the CAF Beach Soccer Cup of Nations that year as hosts but struggled and lost all three of their pool games, as well as the battle for seventh place as they went down 12-1 to Ghana.

They won a place in the continental finals in 2021 after qualifier opponents Madagascar pulled out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but again struggled and were beaten in their three group games.

SEYCHELLES AT THE 2021 COSAFA BEACH SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
MP      W        L          GF       GA
3          0          3          12        17

Results:
Group Stages
Seychelles 2-4 South Africa
Seychelles 6-8 Angola

Plate final
Seychelles 4-5 Comoros

SEYCHELLES AT THE 2022 COSAFA BEACH SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
MP      W        L          GF       GA
3          1          2          7          26

Results:
Group Stages
Seychelles 3-2 South Africa
Mozambique 12-2 Seychelles
Seychelles 2-12 Senegal

SEYCHELLES AT THE BEACH AFCON
APP    MP      W        L          GF       GA
2          8          0          8          12        58

Finishes
2015 – Eighth
2021 – Seventh