Beach soccer at the 2019 World Beach Games qualification (UEFA)

The UEFA qualifiers for the 2019 World Beach Games, known officially as the 2019 World Beach Games – Europe Qualifier Salou, was a beach soccer tournament contested by European national teams who are members of UEFA that took place to determine the nations from Europe that qualified to the beach soccer events at the inaugural edition of the ANOC World Beach Games.[1]

Beach soccer at the 2019 World Beach Games qualification (UEFA)
2019 World Beach Games Qualifier – Europe
Official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Spain
Dates	9–12 May
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
№ of events	2 (1 men's; 1 women's)
Teams	21 (from 16 countries)
Men's event
Teams	16
Final positions Champions  Russia Runners-up  Spain Third place  Italy
Matches played	28
Goals scored	236 (8.43 per match)
Women's event
Teams	5
Final positions Champions  England Runners-up  Spain Third place   Switzerland
Matches played	10
Goals scored	75 (7.5 per match)
Previous / Next edition
2021 →

The tournament consisted of two events: the men's qualifiers and the women's qualifiers, the former a knockout competition from which the top five teams qualified, and the latter a round robin contest from which the top three teams qualified.[2][3]

Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the competition took place in Salou, Spain from 9–12 May 2019.[1]

The men's crown was won by Russia whilst the women's champions were England.[4]

Venues

For both the men's and women's tournaments, the two new beach soccer pitches that comprise part of the Complex Esportiu Futbol Salou in the city of Salou, Spain were used as venues.[5]

Referred to as simply "Pitch 1" and "Pitch 2", the former, the main arena, had grandstands installed specially for the competition, with a capacity of 1,000.[5][6]

Men's tournament

Teams

The men's event was a 16-team tournament; entry was limited to the top 16 teams of the BSWW European Ranking issued for January 2019 – these nations received invitations to participate.[3]

Three of the top 16 declined the invitations. Therefore, the next best teams in the ranking were then summoned in turn until three teams had accepted the invitation to fill the vacant spots.[3]

The final entrants are listed below, ordered by the aforementioned European Ranking in parentheses (members of the ranking who could have entered but rejected invitations are struck-through):[7]

1.  Portugal (1)
2.  Russia (2)
3.  Italy (3)
4.   Switzerland (4)
5.  Spain (5)

1.  Poland (6)

6.  Ukraine (7)
7.  Belarus (8)

1.  Hungary (9)

8.  France (10)
9.  England (11)
10.  Germany (12)
11.  Czech Republic (13)
12.  Azerbaijan (14)
13.  Turkey (15)

1.  Estonia (16)

14.  Greece (17)

1.  Romania (18)
2.  Moldova (19)
3.  Serbia (20)

15.  Norway (21)

1.  Bulgaria (22)

16.  Kazakhstan (23)

Draw

The draw for the opening round of the tournament, which also defined the arrangement of the teams in the bracket, took place at 12:00 CEST on April 15 at the headquarters of BSWW in Barcelona, Spain. The draw was assisted by Spanish forward Llorenç Gomez.[8][9]

For the purpose of the draw, the 16 teams were split into four pots of four according to their world ranking – the highest ranked teams (plus the hosts) were placed in Pot 1, next highest in Pot 2 and so on, down to the lowest ranked teams placed in Pot 4.[8] For each tie, teams from Pot 1 were drawn against teams from Pot 4 and Pot 2 nations were drawn to face those from Pot 3. The drawing of ties alternated as such and in the order they were drawn, each pairing was placed in the bracket from top to bottom.[3]

The composition of the pots is shown below (World Ranking in parentheses):[9]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Spain (hosts; 10)  Portugal (3)  Russia (4)  Italy (5)	Switzerland (8)  Ukraine (20)  Belarus (27)  France (31)	England (33)  Germany (34)  Czech Republic (35)  Azerbaijan (38)	Turkey (39)  Greece (46)  Norway (52)  Kazakhstan (55)

Results

The competition was played as a straight knockout tournament; starting with the round of 16, the winners of each round advanced through to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and ultimately the final with the winner crowned champions of the event. Meanwhile, the losing nations of each round receded to play in a series of consolation rounds and/or matches in order to determine all final placements. This meant all participants contested four matches.[9]

The four teams that reached the semi-finals and the winner of the fifth place match qualified for the 2019 World Beach Games.

Matches are listed as local time in Salou, (UTC+2).

Note:

• England withdrew after the draw took place due to administrative issues, awarding all of their opponents walkovers (w/o).[10]
• All matches took place at the main arena, other than those denoted by  2 , indicating that match took place on pitch 2.[6]

					9th–12th semi-finals				9th–16th quarter-finals				Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals
													Portugal  [a]	10
									Kazakhstan	2			Kazakhstan	2			Portugal	4
									Germany	4			Switzerland (p)  [b]	7 (3)			Switzerland	5
					Germany	4			10 May; 11:00; Report  2				Germany	7 (2)			10 May; 13:30; Report				Switzerland	3
					Azerbaijan	5							Russia  [c]	7							Russia	4
					11 May; 09:45; Report				Norway	2			Norway	0			Russia	7			11 May; 11:00; Report
	9th place match																								Final
									Azerbaijan	3			Ukraine  [d]	6			Ukraine	2
	Azerbaijan	5							10 May; 12:15; Report				Azerbaijan	4			10 May; 16:00; Report								Russia	5
	Greece	3											Spain  [e]	8											Spain	4
	12 May; 11:00; Report								Turkey	5			Turkey	6			Spain	5							12 May; 18:30; Report
									Czech Republic	1			Belarus (a.e.t.)  [f]	6			Belarus	0
					Turkey	1			10 May; 11:00; Report				Czech Republic	4			10 May; 18:30; Report				Spain	5
	11th place match																								3rd place match
					Greece	4							Italy  [g]	7							Italy	1
	Germany	3			11 May; 12:15; Report				Greece	w/o			Greece	3			Italy	10			11 May; 18:30; Report				Switzerland	4
	Turkey	6							England				France  [h]	w/o			France	2							Italy	6
	12 May; 09:45; Report								10 May				England				10 May; 14:45; Report								12 May; 16:00; Report
					13th–16th semi-finals																5th–8th semi-finals
													9 May
					Kazakhstan	5							a.^ 16:00; Report								Portugal	3
	13th place match																								5th place match
					Norway	1							b.^ 12:15; Report								Ukraine	5
	Kazakhstan	2			11 May; 11:00; Report  2								c.^ 14:45; Report								11 May; 16:00; Report				Ukraine	5
	Czech Republic	4											d.^ 12:15; Report  2												Belarus	2
	12 May; 11:00; Report  2				Czech Republic	w/o							e.^ 18:30; Report								Belarus	5			12 May; 13:30; Report
					England								f.^ 11:00; Report								France	3
	15th place match																								7th place match
					11 May								g.^ 13:30; Report								11 May; 13:30; Report
	Norway	w/o											h.^ Report												Portugal	6
	England																								France	3
	12 May																								12 May; 12:15; Report

Winners trophy

2019 World Beach Games – Europe Qualifier Champions
Russia First title

Individual awards

Top scorer
Gabriele Gori
12 goals
Best player
Llorenç Gomez
Best goalkeeper
Maxim Chuzhkov

Source: BSWW

Top goalscorers

Players who scored at least 4 goals are listed.

There were 236 goals scored in 28 matches, for an average of 8.43 goals per match.

12 goals

• Gabriele Gori

8 goals

• Cem Keskin

7 goals

• Ihar Bryshtel
• Llorenç Gomez

6 goals

• Javi Torres
• Baris Terzioglu
• Emmanuele Zurlo

5 goals

• Noel Ott
• Dmitry Shishin
• Artur Paporotnyi
• Sabir Allahguliyev
• Dmytro Voitenko

4 goals

• Anthony Barbotti
• Phillipp Borer
• Leo Martins
• Joao Gonçalves
• Anatoliy Ryabko
• Eduard Suarez
• Igor Demeshko
• Fedor Zemskov
• Dejan Stankovic
• Jordan Santos
• Sven Korner

Source: BSRussia (in Russian)

Final standings

Rank	Team	Qualification
	Russia	2019 World Beach Games
	Spain
	Italy
4	Switzerland
5	Ukraine^[a]
6	Belarus
7	Portugal
8	France
9	Azerbaijan
10	Greece
11	Turkey
12	Germany
13	Czech Republic
14	Kazakhstan
15	Norway
16	England

Source: BSWW

1. ^ Originally, UEFA were allocated four full berths at the Games; at the time this event occurred, only the top four teams qualified. However, the team that finished fifth in this event also had the possibility of qualifying – they were scheduled to contest a playoff match against the nation that claimed third in the CONMEBOL qualifiers with the winner of said match claiming an additional berth.[11] However, the allocation of berths was later redistributed with UEFA now receiving five full berths. This meant that the fifth placed team, Ukraine, were awarded with qualification straight to the Games, without having to play in the playoff match.[12]

Women's tournament

Teams

Five teams entered the women's event which are as follows;[3] their European Ranking is in parentheses:[13]

1.   Switzerland (1)
2.  Spain (2)
3.  England (3)
4.  Russia (4)
5.  Czech Republic (6)

Results

The competition was played as a single round robin tournament;[3] the teams competed to earn points for the overall standings table – the three that accumulated the most points after all the matches were completed qualified for the 2019 World Beach Games.[2]

Matches are listed as local time in Salou, (UTC+2).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
	England[lower-alpha 1] (C)	4	2	0	1	1	16	16	0	7	2019 World Beach Games
	Spain (H)	4	2	0	0	2	19	13	+6	6
	Switzerland[lower-alpha 2]	4	2	0	0	2	13	10	+3	6
4	Russia[lower-alpha 2]	4	1	1	0	2	11	9	+2	5	2019 World Beach Games
5	Czech Republic	4	1	0	0	3	16	27	−11	3

Source: BSWW
(C) Champion; (H) Host.
Notes:

1. England has no independent National Olympic Committee and will instead be represented at the Games as  Great Britain.
2. Originally, UEFA were allocated two berths at the Games; at the time this event occurred, only the top two teams qualified. However, the allocation of berths was later redistributed with UEFA now receiving three berths. This meant, as the team finishing third in the event, Switzerland were awarded with qualification to the Games post factum.[12] However, Switzerland declined to take part.[14] The spot was therefore offered to the next best team, fourth placed Russia, who accepted the offer to participate as the third UEFA representative.[14]

9 May 2019	Switzerland	2–0	Russia	Pitch 1
09:45		Report

9 May 2019	England	4–8	Czech Republic	Pitch 2
09:45		Report

9 May 2019	Czech Republic	1–5	Russia	Pitch 2
17:15		Report

9 May 2019	England	5–5 (a.e.t.) (1–0 p)	Spain	Pitch 1
17:15		Report

---

10 May 2019	Switzerland	9–4	Czech Republic	Pitch 1
09:45		Report

10 May 2019	Spain	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Russia	Pitch 1
17:15		Report

---

11 May 2019	Switzerland	0–3	England	Pitch 1
14:45		Report

11 May 2019	Spain	9–3	Czech Republic	Pitch 1
17:15		Report

---

12 May 2019	England	4–3	Russia	Pitch 1
14:45		Report

12 May 2019	Spain	3–2	Switzerland	Pitch 1
17:15		Report

Winners trophy

2019 World Beach Games – Europe Qualifier Champions
England First title

Individual awards

Top scorer(s)
Veronika Pilousková Sarah Kempson Andrea Mirón
5 goals
Best player
Carla Morera
Best goalkeeper
Hannah Haughton

Source: BSWW

Top goalscorers

Players who scored at least 3 goals are listed.

There were 75 goals scored in 10 matches, for an average of 7.5 goals per match.

5 goals

• Veronika Pilousková
• Sarah Kempson
• Andrea Mirón

4 goals

• Natalia Zaitseva
• Pascale Kuffer

3 goals

• Katie James
• Vanessa Meyer
• Natalia Gómez
• Lorena Asensio
• Molly Clark
• Gemma Hillier

Source: BSRussia (in Russian)

See also

• 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA)

References

1. "The race for the World Beach Games begins in Salou!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
2. "List of the participants at World Beach Games, confirmed". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
3. "Грин-карта за две победы. Чем удивителен отборочный турнир Всемирных пляжных игр" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
4. "Russia victorious over hosts in Salou final!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
5. "Beach Soccer arrives at Complex Esportiu Futbol Salou". Futbol Salou. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
6. "WBG Europe Qualifier Salou match schedule announced!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
7. "Overall World Ranking". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 3 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
8. "Llorenç assists draw for World Beach Games European Qualifier". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 15 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
9. "Объявлены потенциальные соперники сборной России по квалификации Всемирных пляжных игр" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
10. "Сборная Англии дисквалифицирована за неявку на матч с Францией в Салоу" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
11. "Salou awaits the first battles of Europe's top teams". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
12. "Украина, Иран, Япония, ОАЭ и Соломоновы острова вошли в состав участников Всемирных пляжных игр" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 10 July 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
13. "European Ranking – Women". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 1 April 2019. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
14. "Стал известен полный состав участников женского турнира на Всемирных пляжных играх" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 25 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.

External links

• World Beach Games - Europe Qualifier Salou 2019, at Beach Soccer Worldwide
• World Beach Games 2019 – Qualifying Tournament – Europe, at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian)
• World Beach Games 2019 – Qualifying Tournament – Europe, Women, at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian)