The Women's Euro Winners Cup (WEWC) is an annual continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European women's teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) from countries all across Europe take part. Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the championship is viewed as beach soccer's rudimentary version of the UEFA Women's Champions League in its parent sport, association football.
Offering the strongest level of club competition in Europe, it is the most prestigious women's club beach soccer championship in Europe; the winners become continental champions. The first edition took place in 2016, following the founding of the men's edition three years prior. It takes place within the framework of the larger men's version of the tournament, happening during the same dates and location over the course of about a week.
Higicontrol Melilla of Spain are the most successful club with four titles and are also the current champions.
Organisation As of 2022 Founding
Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) publicly announced the creation of the championship in December 2015, coming off the back of the multiple successful stagings of the men's edition since 2013. They cited the many women's national leagues/cups in Europe and their "strongest commitment" to begin ramping up the development of women's beach soccer as the reasons for its creation.
Qualification From each European nation, the champions of their highest level of women's beach soccer competition (be it a national league or knockout cup) qualify for the event.
In countries where women's clubs exist but a national women's league/cup does not yet take place, clubs can contact BSWW to register themselves as that country's representative.
If a national association wishes to enter additional clubs who are not an incumbent league champion, they can request for permission to do so from the organisers BSWW who will grant or reject the clubs a berth at the tournament depending on the total number of teams already registered.
In 2020 and 2021, qualification was completely abandoned due to health concerns and travel constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meaning many clubs could not compete. The competition was opened up to simply any club in Europe that was able and willing to participate; the competition format was also altered accordingly for these editions.The 2020 beach soccer season to begin in August. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.Teams announced for 2020 Euro Winners Cup. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020. Format The tournament starts with the group stage. The clubs are split into groups (typically of four) and compete in a round robin format. At the end of the group stage, the top 16 clubs advance to the knockout stage. The teams then compete in single-elimination matches; the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and ending with the final. Consolation matches are also played to determine the final rankings involving the clubs knocked out of these rounds.
Results Year Location № of clubsFinalThird place play-offWinnersResultRunners-upThird placeResultFourth place 2016 Catania, Italy 12Grasshoppers 5–4 BeachKick BerlinZvezda 5–3 Catanzaro 2017 Nazaré, Portugal 19Havana Shots Aargau PortsmouthHigicontrol Melilla 4–3 Zvezda 2018 Nazaré, Portugal 20Zvezda 2–0 PortsmouthSan Javier 3–1 Amnéville 2019 Nazaré, Portugal 20San Javier Madrid CFFReims 9–3 Lokrians 2020 Nazaré, Portugal 5Mriya 2006 [round-robin] CáceresZvezda [round-robin] Marseille BT 2021 Nazaré, PortugalEuro Winners Cup 2021 teams confirmed. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 6 July 2021. 17Madrid CFF 6–3 ZvezdaBonaire Terrassa Marseille BT 2022 Nazaré, Portugal 17Bonaire Terrassa 5–3 San JavierMarseille BT 3–2 Higicontrol Melilla 2023 Nazaré, Portugal 20Higicontrol Melilla 3–1 FC10 LadiesBonaire Terrassa 6–1 San Javier 2024 Nazaré, Portugal 24Higicontrol Melilla 4–3 Red Devils ChojniceHuelva Pozoalbense 2025 Nazaré, Portugal 23Higicontrol Melilla 5–0 Atlético TorroxeñoZeeland Isle of Wight 2026 Nazaré, Portugal 24Higicontrol Melilla 2–1 Barcelona BSCRed Devils Chojnice 7–4 O Sótão A. San Javier won the penalty shootout 2–0. B. Bonaire Terrassa won the penalty shootout 6–5. Round robin. Indicates this edition was played as a round-robin tournament. There was no final or third place match.
Performance Successful clubs TeamWinnersRunners-upThird place Higicontrol Melilla4 (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026) – 1 (2017) Zvezda1 (2018) 1 (2021) 2 (2016, 2020) San Javier1 (2019) 1 (2022) 1 (2018) Madrid CFF1 (2021) 1 (2019) – Bonaire Terrassa1 (2022) – 2 (2021, 2023) Mriya 20061 (2020) – – Havana Shots Aargau1 (2017) – – Grasshoppers1 (2016) – – Portsmouth – 2 (2017, 2018) – Red Devils Chojnice – 1 (2024) 1 (2026) Barcelona BSC – 1 (2026) – Atlético Torroxeño – 1 (2025) – FC10 Ladies – 1 (2023) – Cáceres – 1 (2020) – BeachKick Berlin – 1 (2016) – Zeeland – – 1 (2025) Huelva – – 1 (2024) Marseille BT – – 1 (2022) Reims – – 1 (2019)
Successful nations NationWinnersRunners-upThird place755200112100021020010002001
Awards YearTop goalscorer(s)GlsBest playerBest goalkeeperRef.2016 Marina Fedorova ( Zvezda)18 Rebecca Gabriel ( BeachKick Berlin) Susanne Shutz ( Grasshoppers)2017 Glafira Bazhanova ( Neva)13 Sarah Kempson ( Portsmouth) Deborah Kehrli ( Havana Shots Aargau)2018 Mélissa Gomes ( Amnéville)14 Molly Clark ( Portsmouth) Viktoriia Silina ( Zvezda)2019 Mélissa Gomes ( Reims)14 Carol Glez ( San Javier) Phallon Tullis-Joyce ( Reims) 2020 Anaëlle Wiard ( Newteam Brussels)6 María Herrero ( Cáceres) Anna Akylbaeva ( Zvezda)2021 Alba Mellado ( Madrid)14 Anna Cherniakova ( Zvezda) Anna Akylbaeva ( Zvezda)2022 Mélissa Gomes ( Marseille BT)9 Cristina González ( Bonaire Terrassa) Laia García ( San Javier)2023 Edna Imade ( Cáceres)11 Adriele Rocha ( Higicontrol Melilla) Laura Gallego ( Higicontrol Melilla)2024 Cristina González ( Málaga)13 Andrea Mirón ( Higicontrol Melilla) Adriana Banaszkiewicz ( Red Devils) 2025 Hannah Adler ( Zeeland)10 Carol Glez ( Higicontrol Melilla) Anastasiia Terekh ( Higicontrol Melilla) 2026 Varvara Bychkova ( Cagliari)13 Fabiana Vecchione ( Higicontrol Melilla) Lelê Lopes ( Higicontrol Melilla)
Appearances & performance timeline The following is an appearance and performance timeline of the countries who have been represented by clubs at the Women's Euro Winners Cup. It shows which countries were represented at each edition and by how many clubs. The colour of the cells indicates the furthest any of that country's clubs progressed in the competition in that edition, corresponding to the key below.
20 members of UEFA have been represented by at least one club in at least one edition to date.
Key Champions Group stage Runners-up No. of clubs entered Third place × Did not enter a club Fourth Place •• Banned from entering Quarter-finals[a] Host country Round of 16[b] — a. Not used in 2020–21. b. Not used in 2016–17, 20–22.
Timeline 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Total Belgium × × × × 1 2 1 1 × 1 1 7 England 1 1 1 × × × × × 1 1 1 6 Estonia 1 × 1 1 × × × × × × × 3 Finland × × × × × × 1 × × × 1 2 France × 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 2 2 19 Georgia × × × × × × × × 1 1 × 2 Germany 1 1 1 × × × 1 1 × × 1 6 Gibraltar × × × × × × 1 × × × × 1 Greece × 1 × × × × × × × 1 × 2 Hungary × 1 × × × × × × × × 1 2 Italy 3 2 2 3 × 1 × × 2 1 1 15 Latvia × × × × × × × × 1 × × 1 Netherlands 2 2 2 2 × × 1 1 1 1 1 13 Poland 1 1 2 2 × 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Portugal × 1 1 1 × 2 3 5 7 5 5 30 Russia 1 2 1 1 1 1 •• •• •• •• •• 7 Spain 1 3 5 6 1 7 5 7 6 7 6 54 Sweden × 1 1 1 × × × × × × × 3 Switzerland 1 1 1 1 × × 1 2 1 2 2 12 Ukraine × × × × 1 2 × × × × 1 4Total teams 12 19 20 20 5 17 17 20 24 23 24 201Total countries 9 13 12 10 5 8 10 8 10 11 13 —
See also Euro Winners Cup (men's edition)
References
External links Beach Soccer Worldwide, official website Euro Winners Cup, at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian)