Euro Winners Cup

The Euro Winners Cup (EWC) is an annual, continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European men's teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/championship champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) from countries all across Europe take part.

Euro Winners Cup
Logo introduced in 2016
Founded9 October 2012[1]
RegionEurope
Number of teams≈60
Related competitionsWomen's Euro Winners Cup
Current champions Kristall (3rd title)
Most successful club(s) Braga
Kristall
(3 titles)
WebsiteBeach Soccer Worldwide
2020 Euro Winners Cup

Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the championship is viewed as the sport's version of the UEFA Champions League in association football.[2][3][4]

Featuring many of the world's best beach soccer players and clubs, the championship offers the strongest level of club competition on the old continent.[5] It is therefore the most prestigious club beach soccer championship in Europe, the winners becoming continental champions.

Established in 2013 as a 20 team, five-day event,[6] domestic beach soccer advancement in Europe has seen the tournament rapidly expand;[2] in 2017, BSWW introduced a preliminary qualifying round, open to all clubs not automatically qualified into the subsequent main round.[7] This has doubled the competition's length to 10 days, with over 50 clubs now participating. BSWW also began a women's edition in 2016.[8]

Braga of Portugal and Kristall of Russia are the most successful clubs with three titles each.

Organisation
Note: Qualification, Format – as of 2018

Founding
The Riviera delle Palme at San Benedetto hosted the inaugural edition

The idea of the Euro Winners Cup had been "worked on for so much time", finally being founded on 9 October 2012 after an agreement was signed between BSWW and the Comune of San Benedetto del Tronto to host the first edition in the Italian city the following spring.[1]

At the signing, Gabino Renales (BSWW General Manager) said with increasing numbers of national leagues in Europe and the growing level of competitiveness in them, taking clubs onto an international scene was something the sport was demanding and hence the Euro Winners Cup was created to satisfy this craving.[1]

Current system

The champions of each of Europe's national beach soccer leagues (or championships) qualify to play in the event. The host country is allowed to enter two additional clubs – the club based in the host city of the event and their national league runners-up. The defending champions also earn automatic qualification along with their country's league title winners.[7] Other runners-up may be accepted at the discretion of BSWW.

Clubs can also qualify via the Preliminary Round introduced in 2017 – a qualifying stage that is open to application from all clubs that did not qualify automatically as domestic league champions, regardless of where they placed in their nation's league. The successful clubs progress to the Main Round.[9]

Future

BSWW have said that, in the future, qualification may be switched to a system based on the UEFA coefficient, in which national leagues ranked as the strongest receive multiple berths in the competition, similar to the situation in the UEFA Champions League. However, BSWW are currently committed to ensuring weaker teams have a fair chance.[10]

The Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian leagues are currently viewed as the strongest national club championships in Europe by BSWW;[11] the latter the very best of the four. Bar Spain, BSWW say these leagues are deserving of multiple clubs qualifying to the EWC if a switch was made to a UEFA coefficient system; Spain need to invest more in their domestic championship.[10]

Format

Currently a 10-day event, the tournament takes place in late May or/and early June.

  • Days 1–3: The Preliminary Round takes place. The participating clubs are split into groups (typically of four) competing in a round robin format.
  • Days 4–6: The Main Round – the best ranking teams from the Preliminary Round proceed to join the automatic qualifiers (league winners) in the Main Round. The clubs are split into groups (typically of four) competing in a round robin format.
  • Days 7–10: The Knockout stage – 16 clubs, the Main Round's group winners and best runners-up, advance to the Knockout stage. The teams compete in single-elimination matches; the Round of 16 (day 7), the quarter-finals (day 8), semi-finals (9) and ending with the final (10). Consolation matches are also played to determine the final rankings involving the clubs knocked out of these rounds.

Results
Year Location № of clubs Final Third place play-off
Winners Result Runners-up 3rd place Result 4th place
2013 San Benedetto, Italy 20 Lokomotiv Moscow 3–0 Griffin Kyiv Beşiktaş 3–1 Grasshoppers
2014 Catania, Italy 25 Kristall 2–0 Milano Braga 4–1 Sable Dancers Bern
2015 Catania, Italy 28 Kristall 6–2 Catania Vybor 3–2 (a.e.t.) Lokomotiv Moscow
2016 Catania, Italy 32 Viareggio 6–6 (a.e.t.)[A] Artur Music Braga 5–4 Catania
2017 Nazaré, Portugal 54 Braga 8–5 Artur Music Lokomotiv Moscow 5–4 Delta Saratov
2018 Nazaré, Portugal 58 Braga 3–3 (a.e.t.)[B] Kristall KP Łódź 4–3 Lokomotiv Moscow
2019 Nazaré, Portugal 60 Braga 6–0 KP Łódź Levante 7–6 Delta Saratov
2020 Nazaré, Portugal 27 Kristall 3–3 (a.e.t.)[C] Braga Real Münster 7–6 Marbella
A. ^ Viareggio won the penalty shootout 7–6.
B. ^ Braga won the penalty shootout 5–4.
C. ^ Kristall won the penalty shootout 1–0.

Performance
Former logo (2013–2015)

By club
Team Winners Runners-up Third place
Braga 3 (2017, 2018, 2019) 1 (2020) 2 (2014, 2016)
Kristall 3 (2014, 2015, 2020) 1 (2018) –
Lokomotiv Moscow 1 (2013) – 1 (2017)
Viareggio 1 (2016) – –
Artur Music – 2 (2016, 2017) –
KP Łódź – 1 (2019) 1 (2018)
Catania – 1 (2015) –
Milano – 1 (2014) –
Griffin Kyiv – 1 (2013) –
Real Münster – – 1 (2020)
Levante – – 1 (2019)
Vybor – – 1 (2015)
Beşiktaş – – 1 (2013)

By nation
Nation Winners Runners-up Third place
 Russia 4 1 1
 Portugal 3 1 2
 Italy 1 2 0
 Ukraine 0 3 1
 Poland 0 1 1
 Germany 0 0 1
 Spain 0 0 1
 Turkey 0 0 1

Top scorers

The following lists the top scorer of each tournament.

Year Player Club Goals
2013[12] Dejan Stankovic Grasshoppers13
2014[13] Léo Martins Milano13
2015[14] Ihar Brishtel Vybor14
2016[15] Gabriele Gori Viareggio18
2017[16] Gabriele Gori Viareggio18
2018[17] Llorenç Gómez Falfala Kfar Qassem16
2019 Gabriele Gori Artur Music26
2020 Llorenç Gómez Artur Music22

See also

References
  1. "The Euro Winners Cup comes true". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  2. "Euro Winners Cup 2015 to be biggest yet". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 21 May 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  3. "Beachsoccerteam VIOD klaar voor Champions League avontuur" (in Dutch). nieuwedockumercourant.nl. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  4. "Euro Winners Cup (Champions League) Havana Shots Aargau Damen" (in German). funders.ch. 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  5. "Euro Winners Cup confirmed in Catania". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  6. "20 teams take part in Euro Winners Cup!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  7. "Euro Winners Cup 2017 to feature preliminary round". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  8. "Euro Winners Cup 2016 to feature Women's competition". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  9. "Euro Winners Cup 2017: Preliminary phase open for all". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  10. "Куско: чемпионат мира-2019 пройдёт в ноябре. Я догадываюсь, где, но сказать не могу" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Worldwide. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  11. "Working Group meet in BSWW headquarters". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  12. "Lokomotiv reigns in Europe!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  13. "Euro Winners Cup 2014 Scorers". Beach Soccer Russia. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  14. "Euro Winners Cup 2015 Scorers". Beach Soccer Russia. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  15. "Euro Winners Cup 2016 Scorers". Beach Soccer Russia. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  16. "Euro Winners Cup 2017 Scorers". Beach Soccer Russia. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  17. "Маурисиньо признан лучшим футболистом Кубка европейских чемпионов-2018" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 3 June 2018. Archived from the original on 5 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
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