The 12th edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is underway with the United Arab Emirates hosting the competition. Dubai is the second city to host the premier beach soccer championship multiple times, having previously hosted the event in 2009. Russia, playing as RFU, are the defending champions of the tournament after they beat Japan 5-2 in the 2021 final. This year, however, they did not qualify and while Ukraine initially qualified for the event, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the country announced it would be sanctioning the team from participating due to the inclusion of Belarus in the competition. Dubai, has become a beach soccer hub in recent years and its marquee tournament, the Intercontinental Cup has since grown into one of the sport's most prestigious events with IR Iran and Brazil winning four and three titles apiece. Now, however, those two nations as well as 14 others will now battle it out to lift the World Cup trophy a week on Sunday. Here is all you need to know as Dubai hosts the 12th edition of the tournament... The tournament began on Thursday 15 February 2023 and will conclude on Sunday 25 February 2024. The knockout stages will commence on Thursday 22 February before the semi-final takes place on Saturday 24 February and the grand finale is held on Sunday 25 February. The full schedule will be listed below. Fans are able to tune into all the action on the Fifa+ website. The matches are all scheduled to be live streamed and the service also provides post-match highlights if you can't keep up to date with all the fixtures. There are 16 teams from across the world all competing to lift the trophy. Four teams from the AFC; two teams from CAF; two CONCACAF teams; one OFC side and four UEFA teams are all set to battle it out. The 16 teams are: 15 February: 16 February: 17 February: 18 February: 19 February: 20 February: 22 February: 24 February: 25 February: