Wikipedia

2007 Euro Beach Soccer League

The 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League, was the tenth edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL), the premier beach soccer competition contested between European men's national teams, occurring annually since its establishment in 1998. The league was organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) between June 29 and August 26, 2007 in six different nations across Europe.

2007 Euro Beach Soccer League
Tournament details
Dates29 June – 26 August
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Portugal (2nd title)
Runners-up France
Third place Russia
Fourth place Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played70
Goals scored612 (8.74 per match)
Top scorer(s)Switzerland Dejan Stankovic
Spain Amarelle
Best player(s)Switzerland Dejan Stankovic
Best goalkeeperRussia Andrey Bukhlitskiy
← 2006
2008 →
The lead sponsors of the previous three seasons, Mastercard, ended their sponsorship going into the 2007 season. To reflect this, the Mastercard logo was removed from the EBSL logo as a whole, leaving the remaining plain logo, without an accompanying sponsor, as the league’s insignia. This logo was also used in 2008.

Changes made to the structure of the league in 2006 remained in place for this season. However, there were some notable adjustments to the organisation of Division B – the lower tier season was shortened dramatically to just one round of matches involving all nations and hence was renamed as the Preliminary round for this season.

Spain entered the tournament as defending champions but lost to Portugal in the Superfinal semi-finals. The Portuguese proceeded to win the title, beating France in the final to claim their second European crown, having first won five years prior in 2002. This was France's third runner-up finish in the EBSL and their last top four placing to date.[1]

The league also doubled as the European qualification process for the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The nations finishing in first, second, third and fourth place qualified, along with the winners of the last chance bracket.[2]

Preliminary round (Division B) edit

Traditionally known as Division B, the lower tier of teams' competition was called the Preliminary Round this season.

It took place prior to the Division A season. The event decided which four nations would advance to play in Division A later in the year alongside the top tier's automatic entrants.

For this season, BSWW discarded the traditional multi-stage regular season for lower tier nations. In place of this was organised a single round of matches to decide those to progress to Division A. Since the division consisted of just one stage of fixtures, all 12 teams participated, split into four groups of three, competing in a round robin format.

Unlike in previous years, the overall division table did not determine the successful teams to progress to the next stage of their EBSL campaign. Instead, each of the four group winners secured a place in Division A.

The preliminary round took place in Athens, Greece.

Teams edit

Key
     Advance to Division A

Group A edit

Group B edit

Group C edit

Group D edit

Division A edit

Following the completion of Division B, Division A commenced.

Division A consisted of four rounds of fixtures known as stages, with one stage hosted in each of the four nations which received automatic entry into the division. All eight teams took part in each stage.

Each stage was played as a straight knockout tournament. All eight teams contesting the stage title started in the quarter-finals, playing one match per round until the final when the winner of the stage was crowned. The losers of the quarter and semi-finals played in consolation matches to determine their final league placements.

Point distribution edit

Unlike in previous years, points earned by the participating teams for winning matches did not count towards league table. Instead, the system of awarding points established last season in 2006 continued to be used (with minor alterations) – teams earned points for the league table based on their final placement in each stage from 10 points for winning the stage, down to 1 point for finishing last.

The breakdown of the distribution of points is shown in the table below:

Rank Pts Rank Pts
1st 10 pts. 5th 5 pts.
2nd 8 pts. 6th 4 pts.
3rd 7 pts. 7th 3 pts.
4th 6 pts. 8th 1 pt.

Teams edit

Stage 1 edit

The first stage of Division A took place in San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy.

  • Dates: QFs – 13 July; SFs – 14 July; Finals – 15 July

Results edit

Fifth place5th–8th place semifinalsQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
  Spain4
   Switzerland (a.e.t.)5
  Spain6   Switzerland4
  France (a.e.t.)7  Russia5
  France1
  Russia4
  France10  Russia4
  Czech Republic2  Portugal3
  Italy4
  Czech Republic2
7th place match  Czech Republic6  Italy2Third place
  Poland5  Portugal7
  Spain4  Portugal5   Switzerland5
  Poland (a.e.t.)5  Poland4  Italy3

Awards edit

Award[3] Player
Best player   Egor Shaykov
Top scorer(s)   Amarelle (8 goals)
Best goalkeeper   Andrey Bukhlitskiy

Final standings edit

Rank Team Points earned
    Russia 10
    Portugal 8
     Switzerland 7
4   Italy 6
5   France 5
6   Czech Republic 4
7   Poland 3
8   Spain 1

Stage 2 edit

The second stage of Division A took place in Portimão, Portugal.

  • Dates: QFs – 19 July; SFs – 20 July; Finals – 21 July

Results edit

Fifth place5th–8th place semifinalsQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
  Czech Republic4
  Portugal7
  Czech Republic4  Portugal6
  Poland7  France1
  Poland2
  France4
  Poland0  Portugal3
  Spain1  Russia2
  Russia4
  Spain3
7th place match  Spain7  Russia7Third place
  Italy4   Switzerland3
  Czech Republic1  Italy1 (2)  France6
  Italy4   Switzerland (p)1 (3)   Switzerland4

Awards edit

Award[4] Player
Best player   Alan
Top scorer(s)   Madjer (7 goals)
Best goalkeeper   Andrey Bukhlitskiy

Final standings edit

Rank Team Points earned
    Portugal 10
    Russia 8
    France 7
4    Switzerland 6
5   Spain 5
6   Poland 4
7   Italy 3
8   Czech Republic 1

Stage 3 edit

The third stage of Division A took place in Tignes, France.

  • Dates: QFs – 27 July; SFs – 28 July; Finals – 29 July

Results edit

Fifth place5th–8th place semifinalsQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
  Portugal7
   Switzerland8
  Portugal8   Switzerland4
  Italy6  Russia5
  Russia4
  Italy1
  Portugal6  Russia5
  Poland (a.e.t.)7  France4
  France4
  Czech Republic2
7th place match  Czech Republic4  France5Third place
  Poland6  Spain2
  Italy11  Spain3   Switzerland3
  Czech Republic2  Poland2  Spain4

Awards edit

Award[5] Player
Best player   Dejan Stankovic
Top scorer(s)   Madjer (10 goals)
Best goalkeeper   Andrey Bukhlitskiy

Final standings edit

Rank Team Points earned
    Russia 10
    France 8
    Spain 7
4    Switzerland 6
5   Poland 5
6   Portugal 4
7   Italy 3
8   Czech Republic 1

Stage 4 edit

The fourth stage of Division A took place in Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain.

  • Dates: QFs – 3 August; SFs – 4 August; Finals – 5 August

Results edit

Fifth place5th–8th place semifinalsQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
  Portugal (a.e.t.)6
  Russia4
  Russia4  Portugal0
   Switzerland5  France6
  France7
   Switzerland4
   Switzerland (a.e.t.)6  France7
  Poland5  Italy5
  Czech Republic2
  Spain5
7th place match  Czech Republic4  Spain4Third place
  Poland6  Italy6
  Russia6  Poland3  Portugal5
  Czech Republic3  Italy4  Spain3

Awards edit

Award[6] Player
Best player   Jérémy Basquaise
Top scorer(s)   Dejan Stankovic (8 goals)
Best goalkeeper   Jean-Marie Aubry

Final standings edit

Rank Team Points earned
    France 10
    Italy 8
    Portugal 7
4   Spain 6
5    Switzerland 5
6   Poland 4
7   Russia 3
8   Czech Republic 1

Final table edit

Following the completion of all four stages, the final Division A table was drawn up. The top six nations qualified for the Superfinal.

Pos Match stats Points earned per stage Total
points 		Qualification
Team Pld W W+ L GF GA GD Pts Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
1   Russia 12 9 0 3 54 40 +14 27 10 8 10 3 31 Advance to Superfinal
2   France 12 8 1 3 62 42 +20 26 5 7 8 10 30
3   Portugal 12 7 1 4 63 51 +12 23 8 10 4 7 29
4    Switzerland 12 3 3 6 52 60 –8 15 7 6 6 5 24
5   Italy 12 5 0 7 51 51 0 15 6 3 3 8 20
6   Spain 12 5 0 7 46 48 –2 15 1 5 7 6 19
7   Poland 12 3 2 7 52 51 +1 13 3 4 5 4 16
8   Czech Republic 12 1 0 11 36 75 –39 3 4 1 1 1 7

Superfinal edit

The Superfinal took place at the Plages du Prado, Marsielle, France.

The playoff event was organised as a multi-stage tournament; starting with a group stage, the six qualified nations were split into two groups of three, playing in a round robin format. The top two from each group advanced to the semi-finals from which point on the Superfinal was played as a knockout tournament until the winner of the 2007 EBSL was crowned, with an additional match to determine third place.

The semifinalists secured qualification to the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Group stage edit

     Advance to the knockout stage

Group A edit

Group B edit

Knockout stage edit

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
25 August 2007
 
 
  Russia3 (1)
 
26 August 2007
 
  France (p)3 (2)
 
  France6
 
25 August 2007
 
  Portugal7
 
  Spain5
 
 
  Portugal6
 
Third place
 
 
26 August 2007
 
 
  Russia6
 
 
  Spain3

Championship match details edit

France  6–7  Portugal
Basquaise  [7] [8]
Samoun  [9]
Perez  [8]
Libbra  [8]
Edouard  [8]		 Report    Madjer
   Alan
  Belchior
 [10] Loja
 [11] Marinho
Attendance: 4,500


 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League
champions 
 
Portugal
Second title
Statistics
Top scorer(s):   Egor Shaykov (11 goals)

Superfinal final standings edit

Pos Team Notes Qualification
1   Portugal EBSL Champions Qualified to 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
2   France Runners-up
3   Russia Third place
4   Spain
5   Italy
6    Switzerland

Last chance bracket edit

Main article: 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League – Last chance bracket

European nations were granted five berths at the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. As Superfinal semifinalists, Portugal, Spain, Russia and France successfully claimed four of these spots. This meant one berth was yet to be filled. This berth was contested in a final round of the 2007 EBSL, independent from the normal proceedings of the league, known as the Last chance bracket.[12] Played as a knockout tournament, parallel to the staging of the Superfinal, Italy won the event and claimed the final World Cup spot.

Sources edit

  1. ^ "Portugal rejoice in European crown". fifa.com. 27 August 2007. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Italy complete European quintet". fifa.com. 26 August 2007. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Russian wave hits Adriatic". FIFA.com. 16 July 2007. Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
  4. ^ "Portugal exact their revenge". FIFA.com. 23 July 2007. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
  5. ^ "Russians romp home in mountains". FIFA.com. 29 July 2007. Archived from the original on 20 August 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2007.
  6. ^ "France peaking at the right time". FIFA.com. 6 August 2007. Archived from the original on 20 August 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2007.
  7. ^ "Beach Soccer France Portugal finale coupe europe soccer 3". YouTube. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d "France Vice-Champion of Europe". French Football Federation (in French). 26 August 2007. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  9. ^ "Beach Soccer european ligue Finale France Portugal". YouTube. 27 August 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Beach Soccer France Portugal finale coupe europe soccer 4". YouTube. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  11. ^ "Beach Soccer France Portugal finale coupe europe soccer fifa". YouTube. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  12. ^ "European league to kick-off on 28 June". fifa.com. 23 March 2007. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
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