The 2021 Euro Winners Cup was the ninth 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 12–18 July.Euro Winners Cup 2021 teams confirmed. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

The event 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 32 and ending with the final. Consolation matches were also played to determine other final rankings.

Kristall of Russia were the defending champions and successfully defended their title, defeating Braga in the final in what was a repeat of the concluding match of the last edition. This moved Kristall clear of Braga in terms of the most titles won, with four.Kristall lift 4th Euro Winners Cup. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.

Teams Qualification Usually, to enter automatically, a club needed to be the champions of their country's most recent national championship (and for Europe's strongest leagues, the runners-up and third placed clubs can also enter). Any club that didn't meet these requirement was entitled to enter the accompanying Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) to take place in the days prior to the competition proper, as a last opportunity to qualify for the EWC main round.Euro Winners Cup and Euro Winners Challenge head back to Nazaré. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.

But as with the previous year, due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the competition, the normal rules regarding qualification were abandoned. The Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) did not take place; entry restrictions were relaxed: the event was opened up to simply any European club that wished to participate. All clubs entered straight into the group stage.

Entrants 50 clubs from 16 different nations entered the event.

Key: H: Hosts \ TH: Title holders Group stage (17)ACD O Sótão (5)Levante (2)Real MünsterACD O Sótão NorteMelistarRostocker RobbenBelenensesSan Javier (2)Dinamo BatumiBragaSan FranciscoTelaviBuarcos 2017Torrejón (2)Kfar QassemCaxinas (4)Delta SaratovRosh HaAyinCB Caldas RainhaKristall (2)Djoker ChişinăuCB LouresKrylya SovetovNistru ChișinăuChavesLokomotiv Moscow (2)NorsjöGRAP (3)Artur MusicStockholmNacionalMolniya (1)ViareggioNazarenosServit (1)CopenhagenPorto Mendo (3)La Louvière (1)Napoli PatronSesimbraNewteam Brainois (1)Bohemians 1905Sporting CPNewteam Brussels (1)Spartak VarnaVarzim (3)La Grande-Motte PyramideVila FlorMarseille BTMarseille Minots

Venues

Four venues are used in one host city: Nazaré, Leiria District, Portugal.

Matches took place at Praia de Nazaré (Nazaré Beach) on one of four pitches. One seated arena, the Estádio do Viveiro (Viveiro Stadium), and three purpose made pitches, located adjacent to the main stadium, simply known as Pitch 2, Pitch 3 and Pitch 4.

Draw The draw to split the 50 clubs into 13 groups (11 of four and two of three) took place at 13:00 CEST (UTC+2) on 7 July at BSWW's headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.Euro Winners Cup 2021 teams confirmed. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.Euro Winners Cup groups decided. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 7 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

Group stage The top two teams from each group, and the best six third places teams, advanced to the round of 32.

All kickoff times are local, WEST (UTC+1) and were those scheduled; actual times may have differed slightly. Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Group J

Group K

Group L

Group M

Ranking of third-placed teams Since Groups K and M consisted of three teams, for the third placed teams from Groups A–J and L, their results against the teams finishing in fourth place in their groups were discounted for this ranking.

Knockout stage Bracket (last 16 onwards)

Round of 32 Draw The draw to determine the round of 32 ties and composition of the knockout stage bracket took place on 14 July after the conclusion of all group stage matches.Final 32 teams drawn into knockout matches in Nazaré. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

The 32 clubs were split into four pots of eight based on their group stage performance, with the best performing clubs placed in Pot 1 down to the worst performing octet in Pot 4. Teams from Pot 1 were drawn against teams from Pot 4; teams from Pot 2 were drawn against teams from Pot 3. The drawing of ties alternated as such and were allocated to the bracket from top to bottom in the order they were drawn.Euro Winners Cup Nazaré 2021 - R32 Draw. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

Matches

Round of 16

Quarter-finals 9th–16th place

1st–8th place

Semi-finals 13th–16th place

9th–12th place

5th–8th place

1st–4th place

Finals 15th place match

13th place match

11th place match

9th place match

7th place match

5th place match

3rd place match

Final

Awards The following individual awards were presented after the final. Top scorer(s) Bernardo Lopes ( GRAP)18 goalsBest player Mauricinho ( Kristall)Best goalkeeper Maxim Chuzhkov ( Kristall)

Top goalscorers Players with at least seven goals are listed.

18 goals Bernardo Lopes ( GRAP)

16 goals Edson Hulk ( Rosh HaAyin)

15 goals Marian Măciucă ( Spartak Varna)

14 goals Lucão ( Braga)

13 goals Eudin ( Kfar Qassem)

12 goals

Aleh Hapon ( Nistru Chișinău) Chiky Ardil ( CB Loures) Andrei Pankratov ( Delta Saratov) Andrey Kotenev ( Krylya Sovetov)

10 goals

Hugo Liborio ( CB Caldas Rainha) Diogo Oliveira ( GRAP) Duarte Vivo ( ACD O Sótão) Filipe da Silva ( Braga)

9 goals

Dejan Stankovic ( Viareggio) Nikolai Kryshanov ( Delta Saratov) Anatoliy Ryabko ( Real Münster) Rodrigo ( Kristall)

8 goals

Lansana Diassy ( Marseille BT) Stéphane Belhomme ( La Grande-Motte Pyramide) Amar Yatim ( Kfar Qassem) Miguel Pintado ( CB Loures) Joscha Metzler ( Real Münster) Fedor Zemskov ( Lokomotiv Moscow) Boris Nikonorov ( Lokomotiv Moscow) Bê Martins ( Braga) Léo Martins ( Braga)

7 goals

Llorenç Gómez ( San Francisco) Victor Angeletti ( La Grande-Motte Pyramide) Serhii Dubovyk ( Molniya) Camilo Augusto ( Kfar Qassem) André Pinto ( CB Loures) Fabinho ( ACD O Sótão) Sven Körner ( Rostocker Robben) Catarino ( Real Münster) Oleg Zborovskyi ( Artur Music) Roman Pachev ( Artur Music)

Source: BSWW

Final standings RankTeamResult 1 Kristall Champions (4th title) 2 Braga Runners-up 3 San Francisco Third place 4 Real Münster 5 Lokomotiv Moscow 6 Krylia Sovetov 7 ACD O Sotão 8 Spartak Varna 9 Delta Saratov 10 Kfar Qassem 11 Artur Music 12 GRAP 13 Nistru Chișinău 14 La Grande-Motte Pyramide 15 CB Loures 16 CB Caldas Rainha

See also 2021 Women's Euro Winners Cup 2020–21 UEFA Futsal Champions League

References

External links Euro Winners Cup 2021, at Beach Soccer Worldwide Men's Euro Winners Cup 2021, at BS Russia (in Russian)