The 2018 Euro Winners Cup was the sixth edition of the Euro Winners Cup (EWC), an annual continental beach soccer tournament for men's top-division European clubs. The championship is the sport's version of the better known UEFA Champions League in association football.
Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the tournament was held in Nazaré, Portugal, from 25 May till 3 June 2018, consisting of a preliminary qualifying round and the competition proper.
Following the qualifying round, the competition proper began with a round-robin group stage. At its conclusion, the best teams progressed to the knockout stage, a series of single-elimination games to determine the winners, starting with the round of 16 and ending with the final. Consolation matches were also played to determine other final rankings.
Braga of Portugal were the defending champions and successfully defended their title after beating Kristall of Russia on penalties in the final.
Teams A record 58 teams entered the championship; 26 qualified straight into the main round, whilst 32 competed in the Nazaré Cup / preliminary round to attempt to qualify for the competition proper.
26 different nations were represented.
Qualification As per BSWW regulations, qualification for the 2018 EWC is achieved as follows:
The reigning champions qualify automatically into the main round (Braga of Portugal). The winners of all European national beach soccer leagues/championships are entitled to automatic qualification into the main round (but no league champion from Portugal qualified as this was Braga who had already qualified as current EWC champions). The host club qualifies automatically to the main round (ACD Sótão), along with the winners and runners-up of its country's national league. (As a Portuguese club, the winners of its country's league was Braga who had already qualified. Therefore, this spot was rewarded to the team that finished third in the FPF Campeonato Nacional.) Any other club who did not win their respective national league can enter the Nazaré Cup / preliminary round for a last attempt to qualify for the main round.
Entrants For context, in February 2018, BSWW deemed the top four leagues in Europe to be (in no particular order) the Portuguese, Russian, Italian and Spanish leagues.
Key: H: Hosts \ TH: Title holders
Main round Braga Egmond Nõmme Oslo ACD Sótão Vybor Rostocker Robben West Deva Sporting CP KP Lódz Vamos Braine le Château SK BO EU Teplice GR Amigos Paz Dinamo Batumi Kreiss Djoker Chisinau Lokomotiv Moscow Alanya Belediyespor Marseille Igol Vilnius Sambenedettese BATE Borisov AO Kefallinia Copenhagen Melistar Melilla Spartak VarnaPreliminary round / Nazaré Cup Chelas BIR Playas de Mazarrón Siófoki Bányász SE Leixões Benfica Caldas da Rainha AIS Playas de San Javier Olimpia-Stels GR Olival Basto Casa Benfica de Loures Kristall Portsmouth Varzim Salgueiros 08 Delta Saratov Falfala Kfar Qassem GDP Costa de Caparica Viareggio Dunkerquois Littoral Academy São Domingos Catania Montpellier Hérault APS Napoli Patron AD Buarcos Atletico Licata Artur Music Boca Gdańsk Nacional Levante Wuppertaler SV BSMA
Venues
Two venues were used in one host city: Nazaré and Leiria District. Matches took place at Praia de Nazaré (Nazaré Beach) on one of two pitches. The main pitch, otherwise known as the Estádio do Viveiro (Viveiro Stadium), with a capacity of 1,600,Figure as of May 2017. hosted 79 matches, including all main bracket ties in the knockout stage. Pitch 2, a purpose made pitch, located adjacent to the main stadium, hosted 48 matches.
Squads Each club must submit a squad of a maximum of 12 players that includes a minimum of two goalkeepers. Players are to be assigned shirt numbers between 1 and 22 (the number 1 must be reserved for a goalkeeper). Three delegates must accompany the players, including at least one medical personnel. A maximum of three foreign players are allowed to be part of the squad. This was later increased to four, however a maximum of three of these players are permitted to play in a match.
Draws The draws took place on May 9 at 12:00 local time in Nazaré, at the Biblioteca Municipal de Nazaré (Nazaré Public Library), conducted by the Mayor of Nazaré, Walter Chicharro, PFP Director Pedro Dias, BSWW Deputy Vice-President, Gabino Renales and BSWW Head of Competitions, Josep Ponset.
Nazaré Cup (preliminary round) The BSWW organising committee decided to split the 32 teams into eight groups of four, conducting the draw as follows:
Draw procedureThe clubs were seeded. Initially, from every country represented, each club that finished highest in its country's national league were grouped together and ordered based upon the final ranking of the club that represented their national association in the previous edition of the championship. The top eight clubs in this order received the top eight seeds and were automatically assigned to the groups, with the 1st seed placed in position A1 through to the 8th seed allocated to H1. Out of the remaining 24 clubs, again, from each country still represented, each club that finished highest in its country's national league were grouped together and ordered based upon the 2017 final ranking once more. These clubs in this order received the next top seeds available. For the countries still represented by one or more clubs, this process repeated until every club was seeded. The 24 teams were split into three pots, with the highest seeds placed into pot 1 down to the lowest seeds placed in pot 3. Each pot consisted of eight teams. One team from each pot was drawn into each of the groups, A through H, chronologically. The teams from pot 1 were assigned to position 2, those from pot 2, assigned to position 3 and those from pot 3, position 4. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group, except for Portuguese clubs due to the volume of teams from said country.
PotsAuto-assigned clubsPot 1Pot 2Pot 3
Main round The BSWW organising committee decided to split the 34 teams into seven groups of four and two groups of three. Two of the groups of four involve the eight qualifiers from the preliminary round. This meant the draw concerned determining just five of the seven groups of four, conducted as follows:
Draw procedureThe clubs were seeded. ACD Sótão, as the club of the host city, were given the number 1 seed and assigned to position A1. Braga, as defending champions, were seeded 2nd and assigned to B1. The other clubs were then seeded based upon the final ranking of the club that represented their national association in the previous edition of the championship. (With two Portuguese clubs concerned, GR Amigos Paz were not seeded at this stage as they finished the lower of the two in their national league) The next top five seeded clubs were automatically assigned to the groups, with the 3rd seed placed in position C1 through to the 7th seed allocated to G1. GR Amigos Paz were then added into the ranking with the remaining teams who were then split into three pots, with the highest seeds placed into pot 1 down to the lowest seeds placed in pot 3 (along with four non-seeded teams as there was no representative club of their association in the last edition to calculate a seed from). Pot 1 & 2 consisted of seven teams, whilst pot 3 contained just five teams. From pots 1 and 2, one team from each was drawn into each of the groups, A through G. The teams from pot 1 were assigned to position 2 in that group and those from pot 2, assigned to position 3. From pot 3, the teams were drawn along with another ball from an additional pot, pot 4. The seven balls in this fourth pot were marked with the group positions A4 through G4. The position drawn from pot 4, the club drawn from pot 3 was allocated to. As there were just five pot 3 teams but seven position marked balls, this meant two group positions would not be picked from pot 4, therefore determining which two groups would consist of just three clubs and ensuring this was determined at random. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. PotsAuto-assigned clubsPot 1Pot 2Pot 3
Nazaré Cup (incl. preliminary round)
The preliminary round is open to all clubs who did not automatically qualify for the main round as domestic league champions.
Overview
Decision to make changes The preliminary round has undergone considerable changes. In last season's EWC, five of the eight quarter-finalists and three of the four semifinalists qualified via this route; just three teams in the quarter-finals and one team in the semi-finals was an automatic qualifier / national league champion.
To protect the competition's original purpose as a championship primarily for Europe's league champions, BSWW made changes ensuring that this year only two quarter-finalists and subsequently one semifinalist would be non-champion qualifiers from the preliminary round. Three semifinalists were guaranteed to be a national league champion.
This was later revised so that only one team in the quarter-finals would be a qualifier, whilst the other seven would be guaranteed to be a league champion. A qualifier was no longer ensured of a semifinal spot.
Format This season, embedded within the wider scope of this edition of the Euro Winners Cup, an additional tournament will be taking place. It has been described as a "tournament within a tournament". This supplementary event is known as the Nazaré Beach Soccer Cup (NBSC):- The preliminary round of this year's EWC forms the first stage of the NBSC, taking place from 25–27 May:- In the Main Round, the NBSC will continue:-
Group A TeamQualification1 Playas de Mazarrón33000101+99Main Round2 Nacional32001138+563 Olimpia-Stels31002412–834 GDP Costa da Caparica30003511–60
Group B TeamQualification1 Artur Music33000138+59Main Round2 Delta Saratov32001116+563 AIS Playas de San Javier310021110+134 BIR30003516–110
Group C TeamQualification1 Kristall33000321+319Main Round2 Salgueiros 08320011116–563 Academy31002617–1134 Varzim30003621–150
Group D TeamQualification1 Falfala Kfar Qassem330002715+129Main Round2 Levante320012012+863 AD Buarcos310021121–1034 Dunkerquois Littoral30003717–100
Group E TeamQualification1 Catania33000279+189Main Round2 Wuppertaler SV320011010063 Montpellier Hérault30012915–614 Benfica Caldas da Rainha30003820–120
Group F TeamQualification1 Viareggio33000328+249Main Round2 APS Napoli Patron32001118+363 GR Olival Basto31002510–534 BSMA30003527–220
Group G TeamQualification1 Boca Gdańsk32100256+198Main Round2 Leixões320011313063 São Domingos30102817–924 Portsmouth30003818–100
Group H TeamQualification1 Casa Benfica de Loures330003410+249Main Round2 Siófoki Bányász SE310111011–143 Chelas310021416–234 Atletico Licata30003627–210
Subsequent rounds
Second group stage
The eight qualifiers progressed to the second group stage that took place as part of the main round of the EWC.
Final
The best two teams of the second group stage advanced to the final that took place as part of the round of 16 of the EWC.
Main round
The Main Round commenced on 28 May and ended on 30 May.
34 teams entered into the Main Round – 26 European domestic league champions (and select league runners-up) who qualify automatically plus eight qualifiers from the preliminary round, competing in a round robin format.
Official practice sessions for the automatic qualifiers took place on 26 and 27 May.
Nazaré Cup qualifiers draw:
The draw to split the eight Nazaré Cup qualifiers into two groups of four took place on 27 May, after the conclusion of the day's matches.
All eight clubs were placed in one pot. As the clubs were drawn, they were alternately placed in Groups H and I. The draw was conducted by Leticia Villar of AIS Playas de San Javier Women and Aaron Clarke of Levante.