2023 Euro Beach Soccer League


2023 Euro Beach Soccer League


The 2023 Euro Beach Soccer League was the 26th edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL), the annual, premier competition in European beach soccer contested between men's national teams. It was organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW).

This season, the competing teams continued to take part in two divisions: the top tier (Division A) and the bottom tier (Division B). As planned last season, Division A was expanded from 12 to 16 teams this year (including one suspended member[a]). Division B accommodated eight nations: those who did not gain promotion from last season and teams returning after an absence from competing in recent years.

Originally, regular season fixtures were scheduled for July in the midst of a busy European calendar (including the European Games in June and World Beach Games in August). However, the UEFA qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup were ultimately realised during these dates in July instead; the EBSL regular season was not rescheduled. Hence, this season, all teams entered straight into their division's respective post-season events; for Division A teams, the Superfinal, to compete to become the winners of the EBSL, and for Division B teams, the Promotion Final, to try to earn a spot in Division A in 2024. Both events took place in Alghero, Italy.

Azerbaijan and Greece finished as the bottom two teams in Division A and were therefore relegated to Division B for 2024, the former ending a seven-year run in the top tier, and the latter demoted immediately back to the second tier after being promoted last season. In Division B, Lithuania and the Czech Republic gained promotion; the former earnt the right to play in Division A for the first time, and the latter the first time since 2007.

Switzerland were the defending champions but lost in the quarter-finals, finishing in fifth place, only the third time the defending champions have failed to finish among the top four. The title was won by Italy, who won their third title (others 2005 and 2018) by defeating Spain in the final, condemning the latter to their third runners-up finish since their last title in 2006. Portugal finished outside the podium places for only the second time in the history of the competition, whilst Romania finished sixth, their best performance since 2012.

Division A

Teams

Of the 16 nations who earnt Division A status at the end of last season, 13 entered into this season's top tier; of the outstanding three nations, one was suspended whilst two withdrew and were replaced, resulting in a total of 15 participating teams as follows:

(The numbers in parentheses show the European ranking of each team prior to the start of the season, out of 34 nations).

Superfinal

Matches are listed as local time in Alghero, CEST (UTC+2) and are those scheduled; actual kick-off times may differ somewhat.

Draw

The draw to divide the teams into their respective groups took place on 30 August 2023.

Group stage

Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D

Relegation play-offs (12th–15th place)

The teams finishing the group stage in fourth place, plus the worst performing third-placed team, retreat to the relegation play-offs, contested in a round-robin format.

The bottom two teams were relegated to Division B for the 2024 season.

9th–11th place

The three best third-placed teams from the group stage contest 9th through 11th place in a round-robin format.

1st–8th place

The winners and runners-up of the group stage progress to the knockout stage, a series of single elimination games to determine 1st through 8th place, starting with the quarter-finals and ending with the final. Per the outcomes of each round, the losers retreat to classification matches to determine their final ranking.

Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
5th–8th place
1st–4th place
Play-offs
7th place play-off
5th place play-off
3rd place play-off
Final

Awards

Winners trophy
Individual awards

Final standings

Top scorers

The following table lists the top 10 scorers in Division A.

Source

Division B

Teams

The following eight teams entered into Division B this season. Czech Republic, Sweden and Slovakia return after a one-season absence. No teams make their debut for the first time since 2015.

(The numbers in parentheses show the European ranking of each team prior to the start of the season, out of 34 nations).

Promotion Final

Matches are listed as local time in Alghero, CEST (UTC+2) and are those scheduled; actual kick-off times may differ somewhat.

The top two teams earn promotion to Division A for the 2024 season.

Draw

No draw took place to allocate the teams into their respective groups. Instead, the teams were split based on the results of last season's Promotion Final standings.

Group stage

Group A
Group B

Play-offs

5th–8th place
Semi-finals
7th place match
5th place match
1st–4th place
Semi-finals
3rd place match
Final

Awards

Source

Final standings

Top scorers

The following table lists the top 10 scorers in Division B.

Source

See also

  • 2023 Women's Euro Beach Soccer League

References

External links

  • Beach Soccer Worldwide, official website
    • Division A
    • Division B
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Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: 2023 Euro Beach Soccer League by Wikipedia (Historical)



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