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) Dejan Stankovic
Amarelle
Best player(s) Dejan Stankovic
Best goalkeeper Andrey Bukhlitskiy
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)

Traditionally known as Division B, the lower tier of teams' competition was renamed as the Preliminary round for this season.

The preliminary round 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
     Group winners qualified for 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.

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

Results
  5th place match 5th – 8th place play-offs Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                                               
      Spain   4   
       Switzerland (a.e.t.)   5   
    Spain   6           Switzerland   4   
    France (a.e.t.)   7        Russia   5   
       France   1    
      Russia   4   
    France   10         Russia   4 
    Czech Republic   2          Portugal   3 
       Italy   4      
      Czech Republic   2   
  Czech Republic   6           Italy   2 
  7th place match       Poland   5        Portugal   7      3rd place match
    Spain   4       Portugal   5        Switzerland   5 
    Poland (a.e.t.)   5        Poland   4        Italy   3 
        

Final standings
Rank Team Points earned
 Russia10
 Portugal8
  Switzerland7
4  Italy6
5  France5
6  Czech Republic4
7  Poland3
8  Spain1

Stage 2

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

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

Results
  5th place match 5th – 8th place play-offs Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                                               
      Czech Republic   4   
      Portugal   7   
    Czech Republic   4          Portugal   6   
    Poland   7        France   1   
       Poland   2    
      France   4   
    Poland   0         Portugal   3 
    Spain   1          Russia   2 
       Russia   4      
      Spain   3   
  Spain   7           Russia   7 
  7th place match       Italy   4         Switzerland   3      3rd place match
    Czech Republic   1       Italy   1 (2)       France   6 
    Italy   4         Switzerland (p)   1 (3)         Switzerland   4 
        

Final standings
Rank Team Points earned
 Portugal10
 Russia8
 France7
4   Switzerland6
5  Spain5
6  Poland4
7  Italy3
8  Czech Republic1

Stage 3

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

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

Results
  5th place match 5th – 8th place play-offs Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                                               
      Portugal   7   
       Switzerland   8   
    Portugal   8           Switzerland   4   
    Italy   6        Russia   5   
       Russia   4    
      Italy   1   
    Portugal   6         Russia   5 
    Poland (a.e.t.)   7          France   4 
       France   4      
      Czech Republic   2   
  Czech Republic   4           France   5 
  7th place match       Poland   6        Spain   2      3rd place match
    Italy   11       Spain   3        Switzerland   3 
    Czech Republic   2        Poland   2        Spain   4 
        

Final standings
Rank Team Points earned
 Russia10
 France8
 Spain7
4   Switzerland6
5  Poland5
6  Portugal4
7  Italy3
8  Czech Republic1

Stage 4

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
  5th place match 5th – 8th place play-offs Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                                               
      Portugal (a.e.t.)   6   
      Russia   4   
    Russia   4          Portugal   0   
     Switzerland   5        France   6   
       France   7    
       Switzerland   4   
     Switzerland (a.e.t.)   6         France   7 
    Poland   5          Italy   5 
       Czech Republic   2      
      Spain   5   
  Czech Republic   4           Spain   4 
  7th place match       Poland   6        Italy   6      3rd place match
    Russia   6       Poland   3       Portugal   5 
    Czech Republic   3        Italy   4        Spain   3 
        

Final standings
Rank Team Points earned
 France10
 Italy8
 Portugal7
4  Spain6
5   Switzerland5
6  Poland4
7  Russia3
8  Czech Republic1

Final Division A 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 129035440+142710810331Advance to Superfinal
2 France 128136242+20265781030
3 Portugal 127146351+12238104729
4  Switzerland 123365260–815766524
5 Italy 125075151015633820
6 Spain 125074648–215157619
7 Poland 123275251+113345416
8 Czech Republic 1210113675–39341117

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
Key
     Advanced to the semi-finals

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
Samoun
Perez
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? 		Report Madjer
Alan
Belchoir
Loja
Marinho
Attendance: 4,500
 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League
Champions 

Portugal
Second title

Superfinal final standings
Pos Team Notes Qualification
1 PortugalEBSL ChampionsQualified to 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
2 FranceRunners-up
3 RussiaThird 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.[3] 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. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. "Italy complete European quintet". fifa.com. 26 August 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  3. "European league to kick-off on 28 June". fifa.com. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
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