2008 Euro Beach Soccer League
# 2008 Euro Beach Soccer League

The 2008 Euro Beach Soccer League, was the eleventh 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 20 and August 24, 2008.

Unprecedented organisational changes had to be made to the EBSL in 2008 leading to a drastically shorter season than usual – just two regular season stages were scheduled due to a clash of dates with the arrangements of the 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the first edition to take place in Europe. As a result of the shorter season, BSWW also abandoned the concept of Divisions A and B, opting to have the teams compete in one collective division regardless of ability.

Portugal entered the tournament as defending champions and successfully retained their title, beating the Netherlands in the final to claim their third European crown. Portugal became only the second team after Spain to defend the EBSL crown as incumbent champions, after the Spanish did so twice in 2000 and 2001. The Netherlands, as runners-up, claimed their best finish and only top four placing to date.

This was the first time this decade that the league did not double as the European qualification process for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. In 2008, a dedicated World Cup qualifying competition for UEFA nations was established, replacing the EBSL as the qualifying route for European teams from this year onward.

## Structural changes

BSWW were forced to make radical changes to the organisation of the 2008 EBSL season due to circumstances regarding the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup:

Until 2007, the World Cup always took place in the Southern Hemisphere nation of Brazil, during the summer months of November to February. This left the European summer of June to September free for the EBSL to take place uninterrupted. However, in 2008, FIFA organised the first World Cup to take place outside Brazil, in France, during the Northern Hemisphere summer – right in the middle of the typical EBSL season. This greatly affected the scheduling of the EBSL as BSWW could not organise as many rounds of regular season fixtures as usual due to European teams in preparation for, participation in, and recovery from, the World Cup over the course of July and beginning of August.

This meant only two regular season stages were organised, considerably less than usual. To accommodate all teams in just two stages, the concept of Divisions A and B, in use since 2002, were also scrapped for this season – all participating nations of varying beach soccer abilities took part in one single division.

## Teams

17 teams took part this season, in one single division.

16 nations participated during the regular season; one set of eight in stage one and the remaining eight in stage two. The 17th nation, Portugal, were awarded a bye straight into the Superfinal as hosts.

The teams are listed below, showing at which stage of the competition they entered:

## Regular season

### Format

The formats of the two regular season stages were organised as unconventional double elimination tournaments as explained below.

The top three teams from each stage earned qualification to the Superfinal as well as the best fourth placed team from stage 1 or 2 as per the cumulative standings.

### Stage 1

The first stage took place in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy.

**Results**

| 20 June | Quarter finals (QF) | Quarter finals (QF) | Quarter finals (QF) |
| - | - | - | - |
| 20 June | Italy | 8–2 | Andorra |
| 20 June | Poland | 5–5 (a.e.t.) 4–3 (pens.) | Czech Republic |
| 20 June | Spain | 9–2 | Greece |
| 20 June | Switzerland | 11–2 | Austria |
| 21 June | QF Winners ↓ | QF Winners ↓ | QF Winners ↓ | QF Losers ↓ | QF Losers ↓ | QF Losers ↓ |
| 21 June | Winners' semi finals (WSF) | Winners' semi finals (WSF) | Winners' semi finals (WSF) | Losers' semi finals (LSF) | Losers' semi finals (LSF) | Losers' semi finals (LSF) |
| 21 June | Italy | 7–3 | Poland | Greece | 8–3 | Austria |
| 21 June | Switzerland | 4–2 | Spain | Czech Republic | 5–4 | Andorra |
| 22 June | WSF Winners ↓ | WSF Winners ↓ | WSF Winners ↓ | WSF Losers ↓ | WSF Losers ↓ | | LSF Winners ↓ | LSF Winners ↓ | LSF Losers ↓ | LSF Losers ↓ | LSF Losers ↓ |
| 22 June | Final | Final | Final | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 7th & 8th place match | 7th & 8th place match | 7th & 8th place match |
| 22 June | Italy | 5–5 (a.e.t.) 1–2 (pens.) | Switzerland | Spain | 1–4 | 1–4 | 1–4 | Czech Republic | Austria | 4–3 | Andorra |
| 22 June | Italy | 5–5 (a.e.t.) 1–2 (pens.) | Switzerland | Poland | 5–2 | 5–2 | 5–2 | Greece | Austria | 4–3 | Andorra |

* Awards
* Best player: Roberto Pasquali
* Top scorer(s): Dejan Stankovic (10 goals)
* Best goalkeeper: Nico Jung

**Final standings**

| Rank | Team | Qualification |
| - | - | - |
| | Switzerland | Advance to Superfinal |
| | Italy | Advance to Superfinal |
| | Poland | Advance to Superfinal |
| 4 | Czech Republic | |
| 5 | Greece | |
| 6 | Spain | |
| 7 | Austria | |
| 8 | Andorra | |

### Stage 2

The second stage took place in Tignes, France.

**Results**

| 4 July | Quarter finals (QF) | Quarter finals (QF) | Quarter finals (QF) |
| - | - | - | - |
| 4 July | France | 12–4 | Hungary |
| 4 July | Norway | 4–3 | Estonia |
| 4 July | Russia | 10–0 | Netherlands |
| 4 July | Turkey | 7–3 | England |
| 5 July | QF Winners ↓ | QF Winners ↓ | QF Winners ↓ | QF Losers ↓ | QF Losers ↓ | QF Losers ↓ |
| 5 July | Winners' semi finals (WSF) | Winners' semi finals (WSF) | Winners' semi finals (WSF) | Losers' semi finals (LSF) | Losers' semi finals (LSF) | Losers' semi finals (LSF) |
| 5 July | France | 7–4 | Turkey | Hungary | 3–1 (a.e.t.) | England |
| 5 July | Russia | 5–0 | Norway | Netherlands | 5–3 | Estonia |
| 6 July | WSF Winners ↓ | WSF Winners ↓ | WSF Winners ↓ | WSF Losers ↓ | WSF Losers ↓ | | LSF Winners ↓ | LSF Winners ↓ | LSF Losers ↓ | LSF Losers ↓ | LSF Losers ↓ |
| 6 July | Final | Final | Final | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 3rd–6th place deciding matches | 7th & 8th place match | 7th & 8th place match | 7th & 8th place match |
| 6 July | Russia | 8–3 | France | Norway | 2–3 | 2–3 | 2–3 | Hungary | Estonia | 3–2 | England |
| 6 July | Russia | 8–3 | France | Turkey | 3–5 | 3–5 | 3–5 | Netherlands | Estonia | 3–2 | England |

* Awards
* Best player: Stéphane François
* Top scorer(s): Egor Shaykov (7 goals)
* Best goalkeeper: Andrey Bukhlitskiy

**Final standings**

| Rank | Team | Qualification |
| - | - | - |
| | Russia | Advance to Superfinal |
| | France | Advance to Superfinal |
| | Netherlands | Advance to Superfinal |
| 4 | Hungary | |
| 5 | Norway | |
| 6 | Turkey | |
| 7 | Estonia | |
| 8 | England | |

## Cumulative standings

The top three placing nations from each stage qualified for the Superfinal, along with the statistically best of the two fourth placing teams, as per the below table.

The teams are ranked in order of their final placings in the stage they participated in.

The two teams that finished in the same corresponding final placing in each of the stages (i.e. Spain finished 6th in stage 1 as did Turkey in stage 2) are then split based on which of the nations earned the most points and then on the best goal difference.

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Russia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 3 | +20 | 9 | Qualified to Superfinal as top 3 in stage 1 or 2 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 9 | +11 | 8 | Qualified to Superfinal as top 3 in stage 1 or 2 |
| 3 | Italy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 10 | +10 | 6 | Qualified to Superfinal as top 3 in stage 1 or 2 |
| 4 | France | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 16 | +6 | 6 | Qualified to Superfinal as top 3 in stage 1 or 2 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 16 | –6 | 6 | Qualified to Superfinal as top 3 in stage 1 or 2 |
| 6 | Poland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 14 | –1 | 5 | Qualified to Superfinal as top 3 in stage 1 or 2 |
| 7 | Czech Republic | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 6 | Qualified to Superfinal as best fourth place team |
| 8 | Hungary | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 15 | –5 | 5 | |
| 9 | Greece | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 17 | –5 | 3 | |
| 10 | Norway | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | –5 | 3 | |
| 11 | Spain | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 3 | |
| 12 | Turkey | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 15 | –1 | 3 | |
| 13 | Estonia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 11 | –2 | 3 | |
| 14 | Austria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 22 | –13 | 3 | |
| 15 | England | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 13 | –7 | 0 | |
| 16 | Andorra | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 17 | –8 | 0 | |

## Superfinal

The Superfinal took place in Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal.

Format

This season the Superfinal was played as a straight knockout tournament. All eight teams contesting the title started in the quarter-finals, playing one match per round until the final when the winner of the 2008 Euro Beach Soccer League was crowned. The losers of the quarter-finals played in consolation matches to determine their final placements.

Seedings

Automatic entrants Portugal were assigned the number 1 seed. The other seeds, numbers 2–8, were allocated based on the order of the qualified nations in the cumulative standings. The top seed were drawn against the eighth seed, second seed against the seventh seed and so on.

### Results

* Dates: QFs – 22 August; SFs – 23 August; Finals – 24 August

| Fifth place | Fifth place | Fifth place | 5th–8th place semifinals | 5th–8th place semifinals | 5th–8th place semifinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | | | | | 2 | Russia | 7 | | | | |
| | | | | | | 7 | Poland | 3 | | | | | | |
| | | | 7 | Poland | 2 | | | | 2 | Russia | 1 | |
| | | | 3 | Switzerland | 5 | | | | 6 | Netherlands | 3 | |
| | | | | | | 3 | Switzerland | 2 (3) | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 6 | Netherlands (p) | 2 (4) | | | | | |
| 3 | Switzerland | 7 | | | | | | | | | 6 | Netherlands | 1 |
| 8 | Czech Republic | 5 | | | | | | | | | 6 | 1 | Portugal | 5 |
| | | | | | | 4 | Italy | 3 | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 5 | France | 2 | | | | | | |
| Seventh place | Seventh place | Seventh place | 5 | France | 4 | | | | 4 | Italy | 4 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 8 | Czech Republic | 6 | | | | 1 | Portugal | 12 | | | |
| 7 | Poland | 5 | | | | 8 | | | Czech Republic | 2 | | 2 | Russia | 6 |
| 5 | France | 7 | | | | 1 | Portugal | 5 | | | | 4 | Italy | 1 |

### Championship match details

**Winners**

* 2008 Euro Beach Soccer League champions
* Portugal Third title

### Awards

Best player :

* Madjer ||
* Top scorer ||
* Madjer ||
* 11 goals ||
* Best goalkeeper ||
* Ran Reijer ||

### Superfinal final standings

| Pos | Team | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Portugal | EBSL Champions |
| 2 | Netherlands | Runners-up |
| 3 | Russia | Third place |
| 4 | Italy | |
| 5 | Switzerland | |
| 6 | Czech Republic | |
| 7 | France | |
| 8 | Poland | |

## Sources

* ↑ "Portugal win the Superfinal". englandbeachsoccer.com. 27 August 2008. Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
* ↑ "Euro Beach Soccer League 2008". englandbeachsoccer.com. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
* 1 2 "Европейская лига пляжного футбола (EBSL) 2008" (in Russian). beachsoccer.ru. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
* ↑ "Euro Beach Soccer League 2008". England Beach Soccer. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
* ↑ "Европейская лига пляжного футбола (EBSL) 2008 - Турнир группы «B» - 4 – 6 июля, Тинь (Франция)". beachsoccer.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 11 July 2022.
* Roonba Archived 2017-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
* RSSSF
* beachsoccer.ru (in Russian)
