The 2020 Euro Winners Cup was the eighth 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.
The competition was supposed to take place from 29 May to 7 June.Euro Winners Cup and Euro Winners Challenge head back to Nazaré. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020. However, on 1 May, all BSWW tournaments were suspended until September because of safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. BSWW rescheduled the competition for 8–13 September.The 2020 beach soccer season to begin in August. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020. However, due to persisting travel restrictions and health worries deterring clubs from travelling, the pandemic caused the competition to happen on a smaller scale than in previous years.Teams announced for 2020 Euro Winners Cup. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
The competition 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. Classification matches were also played to determine other final rankings.
Braga of Portugal were the three-time defending champions, but lost on penalties in the final to Kristall of Russia who won their third title.
Teams Qualification Initially, entry requirements were as last year. 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 could 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.
But due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the competition, many eligible clubs were unable or unwilling to participate due to travel restrictions and quarantine measures upon their repatriation.
Thus, the original rules regarding qualification were subsequently abandoned:
The Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) was cancelled. Entry restrictions were relaxed: the event was opened up to simply any European club that wished to participate.
Entrants 27 clubs from 13 different nations entered the event.
Key: H: Hosts \ TH: Title holders Group stage Braga Kristall Beach Royals Düsseldorf Grasshoppers ACD O Sótão Krylia Sovetov Real Münster Djoker Chişinău ACD O Sótão Norte Marbella Rostocker Robben Olimpia-Stels CB Loures Torrejón Napoli Patron West Deva GRAP Artur Music CFS Cartel Portsmouth Os Nazarenos Molniya Newteam Brussels Bemannia Stockholm Sporting CP Vybor Marseille
Venues
Two venues were used in one host city: Nazaré, Leiria District, Portugal.
Matches took place at Praia de Nazaré (Nazaré Beach) on one of two pitches. The Estádio do Viveiro (Viveiro Stadium) and an external purpose made pitch, located adjacent to the main stadium, simply known as Pitch 2.
Squads Each club could submit a squad consisting of a maximum of 12 players. A maximum of four foreign players were allowed to be part of the squad, however only three of the four could be outfield players; if a fourth foreign player was to be rostered they must be a goalkeeper.Beach Soccer Talks #10: Season Update. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
Draw The draw to split the 27 clubs into six groups of four and one of three took place at 11:00 WEST (UTC+1) on 5 September in Nazaré, Portugal. The draw was conducted by the Mayor of Nazaré, Walter Chicharro and Portuguese beach soccer player, Madjer. The draw was closed to club representatives due to COVID-19 safety measures.Groups confirmed for Euro Winners Cup. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
Seven clubs were seeded and automatically assigned to position one of each group: the host club, the reigning champions and the highest ranked club from the most recent national championship of each country ranked in the top five strongest European leagues, as per the BSWW League ranking (Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Germany). The remaining 20 clubs were split into three pots, based on a combination their club ranking and the slot allocation for each country. One club from each pot was drawn into each group.OFFICIAL DRAW: Euro Winners Cup 2020. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
Two clubs from the same country could not be placed into the same group, save for Portuguese clubs (eight teams but only seven groups), however the two Sótão clubs must be kept separate.
PotsSeedsPot 1Pot 2Pot 3
Group stage All times are local, WEST (UTC+1).
The top two teams from each group, and the best two third places teams, advance to the round of 16.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Ranking of third placed teams The first, the second and the two best third placed teams advanced to knockout stage. Since groups A and D consisted of three teams, for the three first placed teams from the other groups (B, C, E, F, G), their results against the teams finishing in fourth place in their group were discounted for this ranking.В первом раунде плей-офф Петербург сыграет с Марселем, а Самара с Лиссабоном .... beachsoccer.ru. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
Knockout stage Draw The draw to determine the round of 16 ties and composition of the knockout stage bracket took place on 10 September after the conclusion of all group stage matches. It was conducted by the Mayor of Nazaré, Walter Chicharro, and Yuliia Dekhtiar, captain of Myria 2006, partaking in the women's tournament.Draw determines Friday’s Round of 16 matches. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
The 16 clubs were split into four pots of four based on their performance in the group stage, with the best performing clubs placed in Pot 1 down to the worst performing quartet in Pot 4:Draw for the Men's Euro Winners Cup Round of 16. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
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. However, teams that partook in the same group during the group stage could not be drawn against each other.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Bracket
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.Kristall reclaim the European throne!. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 13 September 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020. Top scorer(s) Llorenç Gómez ( Artur Music)22 goalsBest player Mauricinho ( Kristall)Best goalkeeper Rafa Padilha ( Braga)
Top goalscorers Players with at least seven goals
22 goals Llorenç Gómez ( Artur Music)
21 goals Gabriele Gori ( Artur Music)
16 goals Glenn Hodel ( Grasshoppers)
14 goals
Ihar Bryshtel ( Krylia Sovetov) Filipe da Silva ( Braga)
13 goals
Kuman ( Marbella) Gaston Laduche ( Napoli Patron) Christian Biermann ( Real Münster) Eduard Suárez ( Molniya)
12 goals
Oliver Romrig ( Beach Royals Dusseldorf) Mauricinho ( Kristall)
11 goals Pablo Perez ( Real Münster)
10 goals
Oleg Zborovskyi ( Artur Music) Joscha Metzler ( Real Münster)
9 goals
Chiky Ardil ( ACD O Sotão) Luca Addarii ( Beach Royals Dusseldorf) Rodrigo ( Kristall) Jordan Oliveira ( Braga)
8 goals
Cristian Torres ( Marbella) Max Krötsching ( Rostocker Robben)
7 goals
Lucio Carmo ( Os Nazarenos) Heirauarii Salem ( Newteam Brussels) Miguel Pintado ( Braga)
Source:
Final standings RankTeamResult 1 Kristall Champions (3rd title) 2 Braga Runners-up 3 Real Münster Third place 4 Marbella 5 Artur Music 6 Krylia Sovetov 7 ACD O Sotão 8 Molniya 9 Sporting CP 10 Grasshoppers 11 Os Nazarenos 12 Rostocker Robben 13 Beach Royals Düsseldorf 14 Marseille 15 Newteam Brussels 16 Napoli Patron
See also 2020 Women's Euro Winners Cup 2019–20 UEFA Futsal Champions League
References
External links Euro Winners Cup Nazaré 2020 , at Beach Soccer Worldwide