2006 Euro Beach Soccer League

2006 Euro Beach Soccer League
2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for (UEFA)
Tournament details
Dates 2 June – 28 August 2006
Teams 17 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions  Spain (5th title)
Runners-up  Portugal
Third place  Poland
Fourth place  Italy

The 2006 Euro Beach Soccer League was the ninth edition of the Beach Soccer league held over a number of dates between June 2 and August 28. The overall winners of the competition was Spain. This tournament also determined the five nations which qualified to the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, as the competition acted as the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers.[1]

Division B

Overview

The competition started off in early June with those teams in division B competing against each other being Switzerland, Ukraine, Greece, Germany, Poland, England, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands. These nine teams played each other in three different events between 2 June and 2 July 2006. When the events had been completed, the nations were put into a final table of division B, with the team in ninth place being eliminated from the tournament, which was Germany. The remaining eight teams moved on to a knockout stage were four nations eventually qualified to move up into division A, taking place later on in the month. The successful teams were Switzerland, Ukraine, Greece and Poland.

Final table

This is the final table of division B with the successful nations in the knockout stage highlighted. Since one round of games were cancelled, the positions in the group were decided on average points, not total points gained.

Team Pld Pts Average Pts
  Switzerland 6152.5
 Ukraine 362
 Netherlands 5102
 Poland 6111.8
 Belgium 681.3
 England 540.8
 Greece 530.6
 Austria 300
 Germany 300

Division A

Overview

Division A started on 24 June with the four teams promoted from division B 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 19 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:

1st12 pts.5th4 pts.
2nd10 pts.6th3 pts.
3rd8 pts.7th2 pts.
4th6 pts.8th1 pt.

Final table

These points were then tallied up to create the final division A table. The nations in seventh and eight were eliminated from the competition whilst the top six teams moved on into the superfinal of the 2006 Euro Beach Soccer league.

Team Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Points tally
 Portugal 8 3 10 12 33
 Spain 3 10 12 4 29
 Italy 12 1 6 10 29
 Ukraine 10 6 4 8 28
 Poland 2 12 3 6 23
 France 4 4 8 3 19
 Greece 1 8 2 1 12
  Switzerland 6 2 1 2 11

Superfinal

Overview

The superfinal, held in Marseille, France between 22 August and 26 August, was contested between the top six teams of division A. The nations were split up into two groups of three, playing once against each other in the group. When the matches had been played, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Poland made it to the semi-finals, with Spain being the eventual winners of the 2006 Euro Beach Soccer League, claiming their fifth title. These four teams also secured their places in the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup by finishing in the top four.

Group A

Team Pld W W+ L GF GA GD Pts
 Portugal 211097+25
 Italy 21011211+13
 France 200269−30

Group B

Team Pld W W+ L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 2200107+36
 Poland 201179−22
 Ukraine 200279−20

Knockout stage

Semi-finals Final
24 August 2006
  Portugal  8  
  Poland  3  
 
26 August 2006
      Spain  4
    Portugal  2
Third place
24 August 2006 25 August 2006
  Spain  5   Poland (pen.)  2 (2)
  Italy  3     Italy  2 (1)

Winners

 2006 Euro Beach Soccer League 

Spain
Fifth title

Last chance bracket

Overview

Since five berths were allocated to European teams in the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, there was still one more qualifying spot to be filled. This involved bringing back the teams from division B who did not make it to division A, those knocked out in division A after the four stages had been played, the teams that were knocked out in the group stage of the superfinal and four wild-card entries to make up the numbers.

First, the wild-cards played those unsuccessful in division B. The winners of these matches then played those who did not make it to the superfinal from division A, 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 France and Switzerland who made the final, with France winning 5–1, claiming the final fifth spot in the world cup, later that year.

Knockout

  First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                                     
DB9[B]   Germany 2  
WC[A]   Hungary 4  
  B3[F]   Ukraine 4  
    WC   Hungary 3  
 
   
  B3   Ukraine 0  
  DA8    Switzerland 4  
DB5[B]   Belgium 6  
WC[A]   Czech Republic 5  
  DA8[D]    Switzerland 5
    DB5   Belgium 4  
 
   
  A3   France 5
  DA8    Switzerland 1
   
   
  DA7[D]   Greece 4
    WC   Montenegro 10  
DB3[B]   Netherlands 4
WC[A]   Montenegro 5  
  WC   Montenegro 3
  A3   France 6  
   
   
  A3[E]   France 8
    DB6   England 6  
DB6[B]   England[C] w/o
WC[A]   Russia -  

Notes:

A ^ WC indicates a wild-card entry into the last chance bracket – (these teams had not competed in the 2006 Euro Beach Soccer League until this point)
B ^ DB stands for the Division B final table position
C ^ Russia withdrew from the competition, therefore England had a walkover into the quarter-finals
D ^ DA stands for the Division A final table position
E ^ This team finished in 3rd in group A of the second stage of the superfinal
F ^ This team finished in 3rd in group B of the second stage of the superfinal

Teams qualifying to the world cup

The following are the nations who successfully qualified for the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, through being successful in the 2006 Euro Beach Soccer league:

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

References

  1. ↑ http://www.rsssf.com/tablesb/beachepbsl.html#06
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