FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and member of the FIFA Executive Committee, Ricardo Terra Teixeira, French football federation, President Jean-Pierre Escalettes and local government officials will be present in the opening press conference for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Marseille 2008 on 16 July at 1600 local time at the Media Centre located at the Stade du Prado.

They will be joined by two of the sport's biggest names, French coach Eric Cantona and Buru, the most successful player of the 2007 edition who won the World Cup trophy with Brazil and also collected the individual distinctions of the Adidas Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament and the Golden Shoe for the top scorer.

The fourth FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup a ten-day event, running from 17 to 27 July, is the first not to be staged at Copacabana beach, its Brazilian birthplace. France who won the inaugural tournament in 2005 are the only side apart from Brazil to have lifted the World Cup title. In Marseille, France will play their first group stage match on 17 July against Senegal while Brazil's opening match is against Spain the following day.

The 16 teams that qualified for Marseille are Cameroon and Senegal Africa, Iran Japan and United Arab Emirates Asia, El Salvador and Mexico North and Central America and the Caribbean the Solomon Islands Oceania Argentina Brazil and Uruguay South America and Italy Portugal Russia Spain and hosts France Europe.

Extensive coverage of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2008 as well as general background information on the event match schedules results standings team profiles and reports will be available on the tournament's official website.