The 2024 Euro Winners Cup was the twelfth edition of the Euro Winners Cup (EWC), an annual continental beach soccer tournament for men's top-division European clubs. The championship is widely viewed as beach soccer's rudimentary version of the better known UEFA Champions League in its parent sport, association football.
Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the tournament was held in Nazaré, Portugal, from 7 to 16 June.
Following a preliminary qualification round, 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 16 and ending with the final. Consolation matches were also played to determine other final rankings.
Kfar Qassem of Israel were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals, ultimately placing fifth. Braga of Portugal won the tournament, claiming their fourth European crown; they defeated Pisa of Italy in the final, condemning the Tuscans to a consecutive runners-up finish.
Teams Qualification Qualification for the competition is similar to the UEFA Champions League, whereby clubs qualify via their country's national beach soccer league (being a country which is a member association of UEFA).
The exact number of clubs which qualify from each association depends on the perceived "strength" of their country's 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. From the most recent edition of their respective leagues, the best performing nations in the ranking are permitted to enter multiple top placing clubs (being their league champions and one or more runners-up), whilst the worst performing are allowed to enter just one club (being their league champions). This is similar in concept to that of the UEFA coefficient ranking.
Eligible clubs may choose not to, or are unable to participate. Thus, in reality, some countries fill their quota with clubs placed lower down in their league, don't claim all their slots, sometimes fill none of their slots at all, and sometimes unclaimed slots are transferred to other associations at the discretion of BSWW.
Any and all clubs that do not qualify via their league placing, and/or are surplus to their countries' allocated quotas, are invited to enter the accompanying Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) to begin in the days prior to the competition proper. The Challenge is both a competition in its own right and acts as an alternative qualification route for this edition of the EWC; the semi-finals of the Challenge double as Round of 32 ties of the EWC and the Challenge final doubles as a Round of 16 tie of the EWC. The winners of the latter are crowned champions of the Challenge and are rewarded with a place in the quarter-finals of the EWC at which stage they become fully integrated with the clubs of the competition proper.
Entrants 56 clubs from 24 different nations enter the event – 36 enter straight into the group stage, 20 enter into the 2024 Euro Winners Challenge.
In accordance with sanctions imposed by FIFA and UEFA in 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, clubs from Russia remain banned from entering this year.
Group stage (4)Braga (3)Platja de Roses (1)Riga FCGRAPRecreativo Huelva (1)Nistru ChișinăuNazaré 2022Vitoria (1)AltenaO Sótão (2)Kfar Qassem (1)West Deva (4)CataniaRosh HaAyin (1)HustýNapoli (1)TSOR Mogilev (1)Frösö IFPisa (1)ES Brainoise (1)Havana Shots AargauViareggio (1)Spartak Varna (1)Erciş Spor (3)Marseille BT (1)PaphosMarseille Minots (1)Slavia PragueMouilleron (1)Baggio (3)Bavaria Beach Bazis (1)Dinamo BatumiReal Münster (1)Napoli PatronRostocker Robben (1)Bonyhád2024 Euro Winners Challenge (12) Alfarim (12) São Domingos (1)NaxosBenfica Viseu Sesimbra (1)PortsmouthChelasUnião Ericeirense (1)Armia TbilisiLeixõesVila Flor (1)AO KefalliniaO Sótão "B" (2)SM JallesPastéis Southern CévennesPinheiros (2)GenappePorto Mendo Perwez
Draw The draw to split the 36 clubs into nine groups of four, and 20 clubs into five groups of four, for the group and preliminary stages respectively, took place on 16 May.
Euro Winners Challenge
This was the first edition of the Challenge Cup played in parallel to the EWC with the winner and the runners-up of 2024 Euro Winners Challenge that qualify to the 2025 Euro Winners Cup.
Group stage All group winners, along with the best runners-up, progress to the knockout stage.
The other four runners-up progress to a play-off round to decide the final two knockout stage berths.
All third-placed and fourth-placed teams recede to a set of consolation matches to determine final placements.
Key Group A 9 June Real Münster 10–6 ES Brainoise9 June Vitoria 0–4 O Sótão10 June Real Münster 6–3 Vitoria10 June O Sótão 13–1 ES Brainoise11 June ES Brainoise 1–5 Vitoria11 June O Sótão 4–2 Real Münster
Group B 9 June Bavaria Beach Bazis 1–6 Spartak Varna9 June Frösö IF 0–17 Kfar Qassem10 June Spartak Varna 9–2 Frösö IF10 June Kfar Qassem 8–2 Bavaria Beach Bazis11 June Bavaria Beach Bazis 3–0 Frösö IF11 June Kfar Qassem 9–2 Spartak Varna
Group C 9 June Marseille BT 5–2 Slavia Prague9 June Bonyhád 1–10 Braga10 June Marseille BT 2–4 Bonyhád10 June Braga 11–0 Slavia Prague11 June Slavia Prague 4–5 Bonyhád11 June Braga 4–2 Marseille BT
Group D 9 June Hustý 2–5 West Deva9 June Mouilleron 1–12 Viareggio10 June Hustý 4–6 Mouilleron10 June Viareggio 10–5 West Deva11 June West Deva 6–2 Mouilleron11 June Viareggio 9–0 Hustý
Group E 9 June Riga 9–1 Baggio9 June Altena 3–9 Huelva10 June Riga 4–2 Altena10 June Huelva 12–0 Baggio11 June Baggio 2–6 Altena11 June Huelva 5–4 Riga
Group F 9 June Paphos 3–2 Nistru Chișinău9 June Dinamo Batumi 1–9 Rostocker Robben10 June Paphos 5–0 Dinamo Batumi10 June Rostocker Robben 5–6 (a.e.t.) Nistru Chișinău11 June Nistru Chișinău 3–1 Dinamo Batumi11 June Rostocker Robben 2–1 Paphos
Group G 9 June Pisa 3–1 Nazaré 20229 June Roses Platja 3–1 Marseille Minots10 June Pisa 9–0 Roses Platja10 June Marseille Minots 2–3 Nazaré 202211 June Nazaré 2022 3–4 Roses Platja11 June Marseille Minots 0–1 Pisa
Group H 9 June GRAP 5–6 Catania9 June TSOR Mogilev 4–4 (8–7 p.) Rosh HaAyin10 June GRAP 2–5 TSOR Mogilev10 June Rosh HaAyin 1–2 (a.e.t.) Catania11 June Catania 2–3 TSOR Mogilev11 June Rosh HaAyin 4–2 GRAP
Group I 9 June Napoli 11–2 Havana Shots Aargau9 June Erciş Spor 3–4 Napoli Patron10 June Napoli 7–4 Erciş Spor10 June Napoli Patron 4–3 Havana Shots Aargau11 June Havana Shots Aargau 2–2 (2–4 p.) Erciş Spor11 June Napoli Patron 6–7 (a.e.t.) Napoli
Placement matches Matches took place on 12 June.
Knockout stage
Play-off round The two winners qualify for the Round of 16. +
Round of 16 onwards
Championship match details
Awards The following individual awards were presented after the final. Top scorer(s) Chiky Ardil ( O Sótão) 15 goals Best player Filipe Silva ( Braga) Best goalkeeper Leandro Casapieri ( Pisa)
Top goalscorers Players with at least five goals are listed. 15 goals Chiky Ardil ( O Sótão) 14 goals Edson Hulk ( Pisa) 13 goals Francisco Casano ( Huelva) 12 goals
Noël Ott ( Kfar Qassem) Rodrigo ( Kfar Qassem)
9 goals
Balinha ( Spartak Varna) Filipe Silva ( Braga) Hamada Jabaren ( Kfar Qassem) Jordan Santos ( Braga) Miguel Pintado ( Braga)
8 goals Gabriele Gori ( Viareggio) 7 goals
Igor Ricardo ( Riga) Igor ( Spartak Varna) Richárd Patócs ( Bonyhád) Léo Martins ( Braga) Carlos Carballo ( Huelva) Soleiman Batis ( Huelva) Yauheni Novikau ( TSOR Mogilev) Yahor Hardzetski ( TSOR Mogilev) Lucão ( Napoli) Glenn Hodel ( Real Münster)
6 goals
Petru Popescu ( Nistru Chișinău) Romain Billet ( Mouilleron) Paulinho Barboza ( Erciş Spor) Pablo Pérez ( Rostocker Robben) Mateusinho ( Paphos) Bê Martins ( Braga) Bokinha ( Braga) Amer Yatim ( Kfar Qassem) Christian Biermann ( Real Münster) Salvatore Sanfilippo ( Napoli)
5 goals
Bjorn Wagenaar ( Altena) Vasco Gonçalves ( GRAP) Eudin ( Viareggio) Gianmarco Genovali ( Viareggio) Alessandro Remedi ( Viareggio) Cosmin Zamfir ( West Deva) Marian Măciucă ( West Deva) Emmanuele Zurlo ( Napoli) Ovidio Alla ( Napoli) Igor Iguinho ( Catania) Yury Piatrouski ( TSOR Mogilev) Sameh Moreb ( Kfar Qassem) Bruno Xavier ( Kfar Qassem) Deiverson Dmais ( Real Münster)
Source: BSWW
Final standings RankTeamResult 1 Braga Champions (4th title) 2 Pisa Runners-up 3 O Sótão Third place 4 Huelva Fourth place 5 Kfar Qassem Eliminated in the Quarter-finals 6 TSOR Mogilev 7 Napoli 8 Real Münster 9 Viareggio Eliminated in the Round of 16 10 Rostocker Robben 11 Paphos 12 Riga 13 Spartak Varna 14 West Deva 15 Catania 16 Roses Platja 17 Bonyhád Eliminated in the Play-off Round 18 Napoli Patron 19 Rosh HaAyin Eliminated in the Group Stage 20 Nistru Chișinău 21 Marseille BT 22 Nazaré 2022 23 Vitoria 24 Altena 25 Mouilleron 26 Bavaria Beach Bazis 27 Erciş Spor 28 Marseille Minots 29 GRAP 30 Havana Shots Aargau 31 Hustý 32 Slavia Prague 33 Dinamo Batumi 34 ES Brainoise 35 Frösö IF 36 Baggio
See also 2024 Euro Winners Challenge 2024 Women's Euro Winners Cup 2023–24 UEFA Futsal Champions League
References
External links Euro Winners Cup 2024, at Beach Soccer Worldwide Euro Winners Challenge 2024 (preliminary round), at Beach Soccer Worldwide Euro Winners Cup 2024, at ZeroZero.pt (in Portuguese)