The 2018 Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) was the 21st edition of the ''

Euro Beach Soccer League The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer featuring European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in Europe ...

'', the annual, premier competition in European

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

contested between men's national teams. It was organised by

Beach Soccer Worldwide Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of the association football-based sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is known ...

(BSWW), in a league and play-off format. This season, teams continued to take part in two divisions, the top tier (Division A) and the bottom tier (Division B). 12 teams continued to contest Division A, consisting of the top 11 finishers from last year plus

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

who were promoted to the top tier. Whilst Division B accommodated 15 nations: 13 nations who did not gain promotion from last season,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

who made their debut, plus

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

who were relegated from the top tier at the end of last season. No nations returned after an absence from competing in recent years, however, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, who had competed in the last two seasons, did not enter this year. A total of five ''stages'' of fixtures were scheduled during the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

. Each team from Division A played in two stages whilst each team in Division B played in one. At each stage the participating nations earned points for the overall league tables. At the end of the regular season, according to the league tables, the eight best teams in Division A advanced to the post-season event, the Superfinal, to compete to become the winners of this year's EBSL. Meanwhile, the top seven teams in Division B (the four group winners and three best runners-up) and the team ranked bottom of Division A played in a different post-season event, the Promotion Final, to try to earn a spot in Division A next year. The top scorer of the 2002 season,

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

of Portugal, announced his retirement on 11 June; Alan competed in all 20 EBSL seasons since the inaugural edition in 1998, meaning this year marked the first EBSL season in which he did not feature. The league also acted as the qualification route to the

2019 European Games The 2nd European Games 2019 (, ''Jeŭrapiejskija huĺni 2019''; , ''Yevropeyskiye igry 2019''), also known as the 2019 European Games or Minsk 2019 (; ), were held in Minsk, Belarus, from 21 June to 30 June 2019. The games featured 200 events in ...

; the top six teams of the Superfinal plus the Promotion Final winners qualified to joint hosts Belarus.

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the defending Division A team in the Promotion Final, beat

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in the final to win the event, therefore retaining their Division A status for next season.

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

were the defending champions but were knocked out of title-winning contention in the group stage of the Superfinal, ultimately finishing fourth in the post-season event, just the second time (the other

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

), that Russia failed to finish in the top three. The concluding match of the Superfinal was contested between

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, who were looking to end 13 and 12-year waits since their last respective EBSL titles (2005 and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

). Italy, on home sand, won the match on penalties to claim their second European title.

Calendar and locations

The schedule was announced on 23 March. For the first time,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

hosted an EBSL regular season stage. It was also the first time since the 2013 season that no nations in Division B hosted a stage, only the second time this had occurred since divisions were introduced in 2002.

Teams

The following teams have entered this season, in the following divisions (12 in Division A, 15 in Division B). The numbers in parentheses show the European ranking of each team prior to the start of the season, out of 36 nations.

Division A

* (1st) * (2nd) * (3rd) * (4th) * (5th) * (6th) * (7th) * (8th) * (10th) * (12th) * (14th) * ¹ (15th)

Division B

* (9th) * (11th) * (13th) * ² (16th) * (17th) * (18th) * (19th) * (21st) * (22nd) * (23rd) * (24th) * (25th) * (26th) * (28th) * ³ (29th)

Notes: :

1. Promoted from Division B at the end of the 2017 season

2. Relegated from Division A at the end of the 2017 season

3. Teams making their debut

Stage 1 (Baku, 22–24 June)

''Matches are listed as local time in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

AZT Zidovudine (ZDV), also known as azidothymidine (AZT), was the first antiretroviral medication used to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. It is generally recommended for use in combination with other antiretrovirals. It may be used to prevent vertica ...

(

UTC+4 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communicat ...

)''. All matches took place at the ''Baku Beach Arena'', part of the Flag Square cluster of the European Games Park in

Sabail raion Sabail raion () is one of the 12 raions of the capital city of Baku, located on the Caspian shore. It is the oldest district in the city. It contains the Old City of Baku and the Baku Boulevard, as well as the settlements Badamdar and Bibiheyb ...

, with a capacity of 3,900. The stadium previously hosted the beach soccer event at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

. There were no Division B fixtures during this stage.

Division A

Group 1

Group 2

Awards

The following were presented after the conclusion of the final day's matches.

Stage 2 (Nazaré, 6–8 July)

''Matches are listed as local time in Nazaré,

WEST West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

(

UTC+1 +01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time * West Africa Time * Western European Summer Time **Brit ...

)'' All matches took place at the ''Estádio do Viveiro'' on Praia de Nazaré (Nazaré Beach), in tandem with the hosting of the 2018 Women's Euro Beach Soccer Cup. The stadium had recently been undergoing redevelopment, increasing its capacity from 1,600 to 2,200. However, one part of the stadium was still awaiting upgrades, meaning the new capacity figure was yet to be fully reached. During this round,

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

won a stage title for the first time (in either division).

Division A

Division B

Group 1

Group 2

The Serbia vs. Estonia match was the first goalless draw in the 20-year history of the EBSL.

Awards

The following were presented after the conclusion of the final day's matches. Individual awards apply to Division A only.

Stage 3 (Moscow, 20–22 July)

''Matches are listed as local time in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, MSK (

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a UTC offset, time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, ...

)''. All matches took place at ''Yantar Beach Soccer Stadium'' in the district of Strogino, with a capacity of 2,500. This was the eighth time Moscow hosted an EBSL event, drawing level with

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

as the cities to host the most events in the league's history. During this round,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

won an EBSL stage title for the first time (in either division).

Division A

''Switzerland, Azerbaijan and Poland are ranked accordingly based on their three-way head-to-head results''

Division B

Awards

The following were presented after the conclusion of the final day's matches. Individual awards apply to Division A only.

Stage 4 (Minsk, 3–5 August)

''Matches are listed as local time in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

FET The field-effect transistor (FET) is a type of transistor that uses an electric field to control the current through a semiconductor. It comes in two types: junction FET (JFET) and metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (MOSFET). FETs have three termi ...

(

)''. All matches took place at the ''National Beach Soccer Stadium'', part of the Olympic Sports Complex in

Pyershamayski District Pyershamayski District or Pieršamajski District (; ) is an administrative division of the city of Minsk, the capital of Belarus. It was named after May Day, also known as International Workers' Day. with a capacity of 1,300. With construction beginning on 8 June, the stadium was a newbuild, commissioned specifically for the purpose of hosting the beach soccer event at the

; this stage was organised to take place in Minsk to serve as test event for the new venue ahead of the upcoming games. There were no Division B fixtures during this stage; this contributes to the fact this was the first stage to feature just four teams since the Moscow stage of the 2013 season.

Division A

Awards

The following were presented after the conclusion of the final day's matches.

Stage 5 (Warnemünde, 24–26 August)

''Matches are listed as local time in

Warnemünde (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow (river ...

, CEST (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

)'' All matches took place on the site of the ''Sport & Beach Arena'' on Warnemünde Beach, at the purpose built ''

DFB DFB may refer to: Music * Dem Franchize Boyz, an Atlanta hip hop group * Dysfunctional Family BBQ, a New York festival Sport * DFB-Pokal, a football cup competition in Germany Organisations * Furka Steam Railway (), Switzerland * German Footbal ...

Beachsoccer Arena'', with a capacity of approximately 1,500 seats.

made their EBSL debut during this stage, the 34th different nation to compete in the league. England claimed the Division B stage crown, meaning they won back-to-back second-tier titles for the first time.

Division A

Division B

Awards

The following were presented after the conclusion of the final day's matches. Individual awards apply to Division A only.

League tables

''At end of regular season'' Ranking & tie-breaking criteria: Division A – 1. Points earned 2. Goal difference 3. Goals scored , Division B – 1. Highest group placement 2. Points earned 3. Goal difference 4. Goals scored 5. Results against 4th place team

Division A

Division B

:Note: Since one group in Division B consisted of just three teams, for the teams who finished in 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a group of four, their results against the 4th placed team in their groups have been discounted. :Key: :Team group placement: 1st place / 2nd place / 3rd place / 4th place
(Q) – Qualified to Promotion Final as a group winner
(q) – Qualified to Promotion Final as a best group runner-up

Promotion Final (Alghero, 6–9 September)

''Matches are listed as local time in

Alghero Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian province of Sassari in the north west of the island of Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ''Aleguerium'', which is a mediaeval Latin word m ...

, CEST (

)'' All matches took place at a purpose built stadium on ''Spiaggia del Lido di San Giovanni'', with a capacity of approximately 1,500. The winners of the Promotion Final earned a place in Division A next season; they also qualified for the

. (Note two teams were ineligible to qualify to the European Games: Germany, as the team that finished 12th in Division A and Kazakhstan, who are not a member of the

European Olympic Committees The European Olympic Committees (EOC; ) is an organisation based in Rome, Italy, consisting of 50 National Olympic Committees from the continent of Europe.EOC members include transcontinental countries Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Russian ...

. In the event one of these teams was to win the Promotion Final, the next highest ranked eligible team would qualify in their place.)

Qualified teams

The teams in bold qualified as Division B regular season group winners; those in ''italics'' qualified as the three best group runners-up. The team in attempted to retain their position in Division A, having finished bottom of the regular season table. * * *¹ * *'' '' *'' '' *'' '' *² (Last place, Division A)

Notes: :

1. First appearance in Promotion Final

2. First appearance as defending Division A team in Promotion Final

Group stage

Group 1

Group 2

Play-off stage

Seventh place play-off

Fifth place play-off

Third place play-off

Promotion play-off final

Final standings

Germany won the event to retain their Division A status for the 2019 EBSL season; this was just the second time in ten attempts since the Promotion Final was introduced that the defending Division A team successfully won it to preserve their top tier membership (the other

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

). Consequently, no Division B team earned promotion to the top division and no Division A team was relegated this year. Romania claimed the single qualification berth to the 2019 European Games available in the Promotion Final as the highest ranked team eligible to qualify in the final standings.

Superfinal (Alghero, 6–9 September)

''Matches are listed as local time in

, CEST (

)'' All matches took place at a purpose built stadium on ''Spiaggia del Lido di San Giovanni'', with a capacity of approximately 1,500. The winners of the Superfinal were crowned 2018 EBSL champions; the top six (excl. Belarus as they qualified automatically as Games hosts) also earned qualification to the

Qualified teams

The top eight teams from Division A, as per the end of regular season

league table A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

, qualified for the Superfinal. * * * * * * * (hosts) *¹

Notes: :

1. First appearance in Superfinal

Group stage

Group 1

Group 2

Play-off stage

Seventh place play-off

Fifth place play-off

Third place play-off

Superfinal match

=Post-match reactions

Awards

Winners trophy

Individual awards

''Awarded for feats achieved in the Superfinal only''

Final standings

Finalists Spain and Italy faced each other for the first time in an EBSL title-decider; both teams were appearing in their second finals (the others

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

respectively) since they each last won their most recent titles (

and

respectively). It was also just the second time (the other Spain vs. France,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

) that neither Russia nor Portugal reached the final. By winning the Superfinal, Italy ended a 13-year drought (the then current longest wait of any team with a previous title win) to claim their second EBSL crown; both titles were won on penalties. After nine successive wins, including claiming first place in the regular season, this was Spain's first loss of the season; their wait for a sixth title now continues into its 13th year. Belarus' 5th-place finish was their joint best result (with

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

); the sixth European Games qualifier was therefore decided in the seventh place play-off between Ukraine and Azerbaijan, won by the former.

Season statistics

Top scorers

The following tables list the top 12 scorers in each division, including goals scored in both the regular and post season events. Note there is no award presented for these season-encompassing scoring feats, the tables are for statistical purposes only. Scoring awards were bestowed per stage, with the primary award that which was presented in the Superfinal.

Division A

†. Includes 3 goals scored in the Promotion Final vs. Division B teams.

Division B

Source

Most assists

The following tables list the top 10 assistants in each division including assists provided in both the regular and post season events.

Division A

Division B

Source

Discipline

The following table lists the players and teams who received the most penalties for disciplinary infringements in each division in both the regular and post season events. Source
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Calendar and locations

Teams

Division A

Division B

Stage 1 (Baku, 22–24 June)

Division A

Group 1

Group 2

Awards

Stage 2 (Nazaré, 6–8 July)

Division A

Division B

Group 1

Group 2

Awards

Stage 3 (Moscow, 20–22 July)

Division A

Division B

Awards

Stage 4 (Minsk, 3–5 August)

Division A

Awards

Stage 5 (Warnemünde, 24–26 August)

Division A

Division B

Awards

League tables

Division A

Division B

Promotion Final (Alghero, 6–9 September)

Qualified teams

Group stage

Group 1

Group 2

Play-off stage

Seventh place play-off

Fifth place play-off

Third place play-off

Promotion play-off final

Final standings

Superfinal (Alghero, 6–9 September)

Qualified teams

Group stage

Group 1

Group 2

Play-off stage

Seventh place play-off

Fifth place play-off

Third place play-off

Superfinal match

=Post-match reactions

Awards

Winners trophy

Individual awards

Final standings

Season statistics

Top scorers

Division A

Division B

Most assists

Division A

Division B

Discipline

References

External links