2007 Euro Beach Soccer League

2007 Euro Beach Soccer League
2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for (UEFA)
Tournament details
Dates 26 June – 26 August 2007
Teams 22 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions  Portugal (2nd title)
Runners-up  France
Third place  Russia
Fourth place  Spain

The 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League was the tenth edition of the Beach Soccer league held over a number of dates between June 26 and August 26. The overall winners of the competition were Portugal. This tournament also determined the five nations which qualified to the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, as the competition acted as the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers.[1]

Qualifying rounds

Twelve teams competed in preliminary qualifying groups to decide the four teams that would play alongside the four best teams in Europe who had already automatically qualified for the 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League: France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The twelve teams were split into four groups of three, playing each other once, with the winner of each group qualifying to the EBSL.

Group A

Team Pts Pld W W+ L GF GA GD
  Switzerland 62200215+16
 Norway 22011714−7
 Turkey 02002715−8

Group B

Team Pts Pld W W+ L GF GA GD
 Russia 521101813+5
 Israel 3201114140
 Greece 0200227−5

Group C

Team Pts Pld W W+ L GF GA GD
 Czech Republic 6220086+2
 Ukraine 3210186+2
 Germany 0200259−4

Group D

Team Pts Pld W W+ L GF GA GD
 Poland 32101108+2
 England 3210187+1
 Hungary 2201169−3

Euro Beach Soccer League

Overview

The EBSL started on 13 July with the four teams who qualified from the preliminary rounds competing with Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. The eight teams competed in four different stages, in straight knockout tournaments. After the stages were completed on 5 August, the final table was organised.

At the end of every stage, nations were awarded points for where they finished in that stage as follows:

1st10 pts.5th5 pts.
2nd8 pts.6th4 pts.
3rd7 pts.7th3 pts.
4th6 pts.8th1 pt.

Final table

These points were then tallied up to create the final EBSL table. The nations in seventh and eight were eliminated from the competition whilst the top six teams moved on into the superfinal of the 2007 Euro Beach Soccer league.

Team Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Overall points
 Russia 10 8 10 3 31
 France 5 7 8 10 30
 Portugal 8 10 4 7 29
  Switzerland 7 6 6 5 24
 Italy 6 3 3 8 20
 Spain 1 5 7 6 19
 Poland 3 4 5 4 16
 Czech Republic 4 1 1 1 7

Superfinal

Overview

The superfinal, held in Marseille, France between 21 August and 26 August, was contested between the top six teams of the EBSL. The nations were split up into two groups of three, playing once against each other in the group. When the matches had been played, Russia, Portugal, Spain and France made it to the semi-finals, with Portugal being the eventual winners of the 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League, claiming their second title following 2002. These four teams also secured their places in the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup by finishing in the top four.

Group A

Team Pts Pld W W+ L GF GA GD
 Spain 522101510+5
 Russia 321011510+5
  Switzerland 02002515−10

Group B

Team Pts Pld W W+ L GF GA GD
 France 62200118+3
 Portugal 3210187+1
 Italy 02002711−4

Knockout stage

Semi-finals Final
24 August 2006
  France (pen.)  3 (2)  
  Russia  3 (1)  
 
26 August 2006
      Portugal  7
    France  6
Third place
24 August 2006 25 August 2006
  Portugal  6   Russia  6
  Spain  5     Spain  3

Winners

 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League 

Portugal
Second title

Last chance bracket

Overview

Since five berths were allocated to European teams in the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, there was still one more qualifying spot to be filled. This involved bringing back teams from the qualifying rounds who did not make it to the EBSL, those knocked out in the EBSL after the four stages had been played, the teams that were knocked out in the group stage of the superfinal and six wild-card entries to make up the numbers.

First, the wild-cards and those unsuccessful in the qualifying rounds played. The winners of these matches then played those who did not make it to the superfinal from the EBSL, and those who did not make it to the knockout stage of the superfinal, as these teams received a bye from the first round. Eventually, it was Italy and Switzerland who made the final, with Italy winning 8–5, claiming the final fifth spot in the world cup, later that year.

Knockout

  First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
                                     
  Bulgaria 2  
  Austria 7  
  3A    Switzerland 13  
      Austria 5  
 
   
     Switzerland 6  
    Ukraine 5  
  Ukraine 3  
  Estonia 1  
    Poland 4
      Ukraine 5  
 
   
     Switzerland 5
    Italy 8
   
   
    Germany 6
      Norway 2  
  Turkey 6
  Norway 7  
    Germany 3
    Italy 4  
   
   
  3B   Italy 6
      Hungary 1  
  Hungary 4
  Romania 2  

Teams qualifying to the world cup

The following are the nations who qualified for the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, through being successful in the 2007 Euro Beach Soccer league:

Position Nation
1st  Portugal
2nd  France
3rd  Russia
4th  Spain
Last chance
bracket winners		  Italy

References

  1. ↑ http://www.rsssf.com/tablesb/beachepbsl.html#07
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