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.

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.

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)

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

Key
     Advance to Division A

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Division A

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

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

Stage 1

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

Results

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

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

Final standings

Rank Team Points earned
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Russia 10
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Portugal 8
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)   Switzerland 7
4  Italy 6
5  France 5
6  Czech Republic 4
7  Poland 3
8  Spain 1

Stage 2

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

Results

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

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

Final standings

Rank Team Points earned
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Portugal 10
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Russia 8
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  France 7
4   Switzerland 6
5  Spain 5
6  Poland 4
7  Italy 3
8  Czech Republic 1

Stage 3

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

Results

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

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

Final standings

Rank Team Points earned
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Russia 10
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  France 8
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Spain 7
4   Switzerland 6
5  Poland 5
6  Portugal 4
7  Italy 3
8  Czech Republic 1

Stage 4

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

Results

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

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

Final standings

Rank Team Points earned
1st place, gold medalist(s)  France 10
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Italy 8
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Portugal 7
4  Spain 6
5   Switzerland 5
6  Poland 4
7  Russia 3
8  Czech Republic 1

Final table

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

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

     Advance to the knockout stage

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

 
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

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


 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League
champions 

Portugal
Second title
Statistics
Top scorer(s): Russia Egor Shaykov (11 goals)

Superfinal final standings

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

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

  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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