Euro Beach Soccer League

Euro Beach Soccer League
Organising bodyBSWW
Founded1998; 26 years ago (1998)
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
DivisionsDivision A
Division B
Number of teams~25 (16 in Division A, others in Division B)
Level on pyramid1–2
Domestic cup(s)European Games
International cup(s)Intercontinental Cup
Current champions Portugal (9th title)
(2024)
Most championships Portugal (9 titles)
TV partnersBeachSoccerTV
WebsiteBeach Soccer Worldwide
Current: 2024 Euro Beach Soccer League

The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer contested between European men's national teams.[1] The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in Europe and one of the oldest in the world, only surpassed in longevity by the World Cup and Mundialito events.[2] The EBSL was originally created to promote the newly founded sport in Europe in a competitive environment and was originally called the European Pro Beach Soccer League until 2004.[3]

Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the teams compete in two divisions; A, consisting of the league's 12 best nations and B, consisting of the other teams competing that year. A system of promotion and relegation exists between the two divisions.[4]

The typical league format is played in two phases; a regular season and a post-season. Teams play in stages of fixtures during the regular season, hoping to earn enough points for their division's league table to qualify for their respective post-season events; for Division A, the Superfinal, in which league title is then directly contested, and for Division B, the Promotion Final, in which promotion to A is then directly contested.[4]

The competition takes place between June and September. The league's rounds of matches are staged in a series of locations across Europe in which multiple nations gather to play, having spread as west as Dublin, Ireland[5] and as east as Baku, Azerbaijan.[6] Matches take place every few weeks over the course of a weekend, including Fridays. At most, Division A teams play 10 games a season and Division B nations, 7 games.

38 nations of Europe have competed since the initial 1998 season. Only four have featured in every season[a] – France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The most successful nation is Portugal with nine titles (and also current champions),[7] followed by Spain and Russia with five titles each.[8] Italy have three titles, Switzerland have two titles, whilst Germany, France and Ukraine have one title each.

  1. ^ "Portugal sagra-se bicampeão europeu de futebol de praia". SAPO. 6 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Tradition makes us stronger..." beachsoccer.com. 6 October 2017. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference history was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 2013 changes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Format was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "The EBSL 2018, revealed!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Futebol de praia: Portugal sagra-se campeão europeu (pela nona vez)". Maisfutebol (in Portuguese). 15 September 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Portugal é campeão europeu de futebol de praia". MaisFutebol (in Portuguese). 8 September 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.


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