The 2022 Euro Winners Cup was the tenth 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 3–12 June.
The event began with a qualification round. The competition proper then commenced, 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.
Kristall of Russia were the defending champions but were barred from entering the competition this year. The final was contended between two Portuguese clubs, Benfica Loures and Braga; the former won the competition for the first time, whilst the latter finished as runners-up for the third year straight.
Teams Qualification Normal qualification rules returned, having been suspended for the last two editions, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.The 2020 beach soccer season to begin in August. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
The number of clubs which are entitled to enter automatically from each country depends on the perceived strength of their country's national league. BSWW determine the strength of each league by analysing the performance of all clubs in the EWC on a country-by-country basis over the previous five editions. A points-based ranking is produced from the data, as seen in the table below.
From the most recent edition of their country's national league:
The first through sixth place performing nations can enter three clubs (league champions, runners-up and third-placed team). The seventh, eighth and ninth place performing nations can enter two clubs (league champions and runners-up). The tenth place and below performing nations can enter just one club, their league champions.
The above clubs take priority and are offered their country's slots first. However, if such clubs choose not to are or unable to participate, the slot is offered to the next highest placed teams from their league in turn until one accepts. Thus, in reality, some countries fill their allocated quota with clubs placed considerably lower down in their league, don't fill all their slots, or sometimes fill no slots at all.
The "host club" and defending champions also enter automatically.
Any and all clubs that don't qualify automatically, and/or are surplus to their countries allocated quotas, are 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 group stage; the best eight clubs will qualify.
+Association ranking & slot allocation for 2022 Euro Winners CupA further 27 members of UEFA are unranked; all are entitled to enter one club.RankAssociationPointsTeams1 Portugal 69023 DQ Russia604502 Spain271933 Ukraine18574 Germany18355 Poland11456 Turkey8047 Italy76228 Belgium6779 France65710 Greece547111 Israel49812 Bulgaria45713 Moldova44714 Denmark400RankAssociationPointsTeams15 Georgia319116 Belarus29817 Switzerland27418 Sweden21019 Romania16120 Hungary15621 Czech Republic14622 Latvia13523 England13124 Netherlands10125 Estonia10026 Finland4527 Norway2828 Kazakhstan16 Portugal (POR): Portugal are entitled to one extra slot (+1) as the host nation. Russia (RUS): In accordance with sanctions imposed by FIFA and UEFA in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, clubs from Russia were disqualified (DQ) from entering.
Entrants 60 clubs from 22 different nations entered the event – 32 entered straight into the group stage, 28 entered into the preliminary round.
La Louvière of Belgium originally entered but were subsequently replaced by Benfica Viseu of Portugal.
Key: H: Hosts \ TH: Title holders Group stage (4)ACD O Sótão (2)Newteam Brussels (1)West DevaBenfica LouresBLC Vamos (1)Slavia PragueBraga (2)Grande-Motte Pyramide (1)PortsmouthSporting CPMarseille BT (1)Augur Enemat (3)Huelva (1)Boca Gdańsk (1)BaggioLevante (1)Alanya Belediyespor (1)Arman PablodarMelistar (1)Atlas AO (1)Dembava (3)Bavaria Bazis (1)Kfar Qassem (1)HustyBeach Royals Düsseldorf (1)Spartak VarnaRostocker Robben (1)Nistru Chișinău (2)Naxos (1)CopenhagenPisa 2014 (1)Bemannia StockholmEuro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) (16)ACD O Sótão B (16)Nazarenos (2)Marseille MinotsAlfarim Porto MendoToulonBelenensesSão Domingos (2)AO KefalliniaBenfica Caldas RainhaSesimbraNapoli PatronBenfica Loures B Varzim (1)Real MünsterBenfica Viseu Vilaflor (1)Rosh HaAyinBuarcos 2017 (4)ES Brainoise (1)Djoker ChişinăuChaves Genappe (1)Zlaté MoravceGRAPNewteam RCSBNazaré 2022Perwez
Draw The draw to split the clubs 32 and 28 clubs into groups for both the group and preliminary stages respectively took place at 12:00 CEST (UTC+2) on 6 May at BSWW's headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.
Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) The designation of "home" and "away" teams displayed in the results matrices is for administrative purposes only.
Matches took place from 3 to 5 June.
The group winners, plus the best runner-up, qualified to the competition proper. Key Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group stage Matches took place from 5 to 8 June.
The group winners, plus the six best runners-up (excluding the Challenge qualifiers groups), progress to the knockout stage. The statistically next best eight performing clubs recede to the 17th–24th place placement matches; the worst performing eight clubs recede to the 25th–32nd place placement matches. Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Details
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I (Challenge qualifiers, Group 1)
Group J (Challenge qualifiers, Group 2)
Placement matches Key 25th–32nd place
17th–24th place
Knockout stage The draw for the round of 16, and allocation of ties to the bracket, took place after the conclusion of all group stage matches on 8 June.
EW Challenge final
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) Filip Filipov ( Husty)17 goalsBest player Luis Henrique ( Benfica Loures)Best goalkeeper Elinton Andrade ( Benfica Loures)
Top goalscorers Players with at least five goals are listed; teams/players involved in the Euro Winners Challenge are not included.
17 goals Filip Filipov ( Husty)
14 goals Noël Ott ( Kfar Qassem)
13 goals Dejan Stankovic ( Alanya Belediyespor)
12 goals Filipe Silva ( Braga)
10 goals
Eduard Suárez ( Levante) Axel Damm ( Copenhagen) Léo Martins ( Braga)
8 goals
Jordan Oliveira ( Pisa 2014) Nelson Manuel ( Marseille BT) Bokinha ( Spartak Varna) Netinho ( West Deva) Duarte Vivo ( ACD O Sótão) Sven Körner ( Rostocker Robben) Sameh Moreb ( Kfar Qassem)
7 goals
Daniel Valeš ( Slavia Prague) Nicolae Ignat ( Nistru Chișinău) Pablo Perez ( Huelva) Marian Măciucă ( Spartak Varna) Jérémy Bru ( Marseille BT) Fran Mejías ( Newteam Brussels) Benjamin Jr. ( ACD O Sótão) Eudin ( Alanya Belediyespor)
6 goals
Michele Di Palma ( Pisa 2014) Kuman ( Grande-Motte Pyramide) Sebastien Groyne ( Newteam Brussels) Tim Kautermann ( Rostocker Robben) Patryk Pietrasiak ( Boca Gdansk) Cem Keskin ( Alanya Belediyespor)
5 goals
Pavol Hrnčiar ( Husty) Lukáš Trampota ( Slavia Prague) Josep Jr. ( Pisa 2014) Francisco Casano ( Huelva) William Garcia ( Bemannia Stockholm) Konstantinos Tsitsaris ( Atlas AO) Cristian Torres ( Atlas AO) Duarte Algarvio ( Benfica Loures) André Pinto ( Benfica Loures) Chiky Ardil ( Benfica Loures) Alexandre Lança ( ACD O Sótão) Lukas Frandsen ( Copenhagen) Alejandro Sydney ( Boca Gdansk) Christoph Thürk ( Rostocker Robben) Joao Mota ( Sporting CP) Rui Coimbra ( Sporting CP) Glenn Hodel ( Levante) Soleiman Batis ( Levante)
Source: BSWW
Final standings RankTeamResult 1 Benfica Loures Champions (1st title) 2 Braga Runners-up 3 Kfar Qassem Third place 4 Grande-Motte Pyramide 5 Rosh HaAyin 6 Copenhagen 7 Alanya Belediyespor 8 Levante 9 Boca Gdansk 10 Pisa 2014 11 Sporting CP 12 Husty 13 Marseille BT 14 Newteam Brussels 15 Napoli Patron 16 West Deva 17 ACD O Sótão 18 Augur Enemat 19 Spartak Varna 20 Atlas AO 21 Huelva 22 Bavaria Bazis 23 Portsmouth 24 Bemannia Stockholm 25 Nistru Chișinău 26 Beach Royals Düsseldorf 27 Rostocker Robben 28 Baggio 29 Slavia Prague 30 BLC Vamos31 Melistar Naxos
See also 2022 Women's Euro Winners Cup
References
External links Euro Winners Cup 2022, at Beach Soccer Worldwide Euro Winners Challenge 2022 (preliminary round), at Beach Soccer Worldwide