Women's Euro Winners Cup

The Women's Euro Winners Cup (WEWC) is an annual continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European women's teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) from countries all across Europe take part. Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the championship is viewed as the sport's version of the UEFA Women's Champions League in association football.[1][2][3]

Women's Euro Winners Cup
Logo introduced in 2022.
Founded2015 (2015)[1]
RegionEurope (UEFA)
Number of teams~20
Related competitionsEuro Winners Cup
Current champions Madrid (1st title)
Most successful club(s) Grasshoppers
Havana Shots Aargau
Zvezda
San Javier
Mriya 2006
Madrid
(1 title each)
WebsiteBeach Soccer Worldwide
2022 Women's Euro Winners Cup

Offering the strongest level of club competition on the old continent, it is the most prestigious women's club beach soccer championship in Europe; the winners become continental champions.[4][5] The first edition took place in 2016, following the founding of the men's edition three years prior.[1] It takes place within the framework of the larger men's version of the tournament, happening during the same dates and location over the course of about a week.

Of the six editions to date, each has been won by a different club; Spain and Switzerland have produced the most winning sides (two each).

Organisation

As of 2022

Founding

WEWC former logo timeline
2016–2021.

Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) publicly announced the creation of the championship in December 2015, coming off the back of the multiple successful stagings of the men's edition since 2013. They cited the many women's national leagues/cups in Europe and their "strongest commitment" to begin ramping up the development of women's beach soccer as the reasons for its creation.[1]

Qualification

From each European nation, the champions of their highest level of women's beach soccer competition (be it a national league or knockout cup) qualify for the event.[6]

In countries where women's clubs exist but a national women's league/cup does not yet take place, clubs can contact BSWW to register themselves as that country's representative.[6]

If a national association wishes to enter additional clubs who are not an incumbent league champion, they can request for permission to do so from the organisers BSWW who will grant or reject the clubs a berth at the tournament depending on the total number of teams already registered.[6]

In 2020 and 2021, qualification was completely abandoned due to health concerns and travel constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meaning many clubs could not compete. The competition was opened up to simply any club in Europe that was able and willing to participate; the competition format was also altered accordingly for these editions.[7][8][9]

Format

The tournament starts with the group stage. The clubs are split into groups (typically of four) and compete in a round robin format. At the end of the group stage, the top 16 clubs advance to the knockout stage. The teams then compete in single-elimination matches; the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and ending with the final. Consolation matches are also played to determine the final rankings involving the clubs knocked out of these rounds.

Results

Year Location № of clubs Final Third place play-off
Winners Result Runners-up Third place Result Fourth place
2016 Catania, Italy 12 Grasshoppers 5–4 BeachKick Berlin Zvezda 5–3 Catanzaro
2017 Nazaré, Portugal 19 Havana Shots Aargau 4–3 (a.e.t.) Portsmouth Higicontrol Melilla 4–3 Zvezda
2018 Nazaré, Portugal 20 Zvezda 2–0 Portsmouth San Javier 3–1 Amnéville
2019 Nazaré, Portugal 20 San Javier 3–3 (a.e.t.)[A] Madrid Reims 9–3 Lokrians
2020 Nazaré, Portugal 5 Mriya 2006 [round-robin] Cáceres  Zvezda [round-robin] Marseille BT
2021 Nazaré, Portugal[10] 17 Madrid 6–3 Zvezda Bonaire Terrassa 5–5 (a.e.t.)[B] Marseille BT
2022 Nazaré, Portugal[11]
A. ^ San Javier won the penalty shootout 2–0.
B. ^ Bonaire Terrassa won the penalty shootout 6–5.
Round robin. ^ Indicates this edition was played as a round-robin tournament. There was no final or third place match.

Performance

Successful clubs

Team Winners Runners-up Third place
Zvezda 1 (2018) 1 (2021) 2 (2016, 2020)
Madrid 1 (2021) 1 (2019)
San Javier 1 (2019) 1 (2018)
Mriya 2006 1 (2020)
Havana Shots Aargau 1 (2017)
Grasshoppers 1 (2016)
Portsmouth 2 (2017, 2018)
Cáceres 1 (2020)
BeachKick Berlin 1 (2016)
Bonaire Terrassa 1 (2021)
Stade de Reims 1 (2019)
Higicontrol Melilla 1 (2017)

Successful nations

Nation Winners Runners-up Third place
 Spain 2 2 3
  Switzerland 2 0 0
 Russia 1 1 2
 Ukraine 1 0 0
 England 0 2 0
 Germany 0 1 0
 France 0 0 1

Awards

Year Top goalscorer(s) Gls Best player Best goalkeeper Ref.
2016 Marina Fedorova ( Zvezda) 18 Rebecca Gabriel ( BeachKick Berlin) Susanne Shutz ( Grasshoppers)
2017 Glafira Bazhanova ( Neva) 13 Sarah Kempson ( Portsmouth) Deborah Kehrli ( Havana Shots Aargau)
2018 Mélissa Gomes ( Amnéville) 14 Molly Clark ( Portsmouth) Viktoriia Silina ( Zvezda)
2019 Mélissa Gomes ( Reims) 14 Carolina González ( San Javier) Phallon Tullis-Joyce ( Reims)
2020 Anaëlle Wiard ( Newteam Brussels) 6 María Herrero ( Cáceres) Anna Akylbaeva ( Zvezda)
2021 Alba Mellado ( Madrid) 14 Anna Cherniakova ( Zvezda) Anna Akylbaeva ( Zvezda)

Appearances & performance timeline

The following is an appearance and performance timeline of the countries who have been represented by clubs at the Women's Euro Winners Cup. It shows which countries were represented at each edition and by how many clubs. The colour of the cells indicates the furthest any of that country's clubs progressed in the competition in that edition, corresponding to the key below.

16 members of UEFA have been represented by at least one club in at least one edition to date.

Key
  ChampionsRound of 16[b]
Runners-upGroup stage
Third placeNo. of clubs entered
Fourth Place×Did not enter a club
Quarter-finals[a]Host country
a. Not used in 2020–21.
b. Not used in 2016–17, 20–21.
Timeline
Years
Country
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Total
Belgium××××123
England111×××3
Estonia1×11××3
France×222118
Germany111×××3
Greece×1××××1
Hungary×1××××1
Italy3223×111
Netherlands2222××8
Poland1122×17
Portugal×111×25
Russia1211117
Spain13561723
Sweden×111××3
Switzerland1111××4
Ukraine××××123
Total teams1219202051793
Total countries913121058

See also

References

  1. "Euro Winners Cup 2016 to feature Women's competition". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  2. "Beachsoccerteam VIOD klaar voor Champions League avontuur" (in Dutch). nieuwedockumercourant.nl. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  3. "Euro Winners Cup (Champions League) Havana Shots Aargau Damen" (in German). funders.ch. 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  4. "The biggest Euro Winners Cup ever!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  5. "Women's Euro Winners Cup 2017". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  6. "Euro Winners Cup 2017 to feature preliminary round". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  7. The 2020 beach soccer season to begin in August. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  8. Teams announced for 2020 Euro Winners Cup. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  9. 2021 Calendar Launch. Beach Soccer Worldwide (video). 13 April 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  10. Euro Winners Cup 2021 teams confirmed. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 6 July 2021.
  11. "Euro Winners Cup to return to Nazaré in 2022". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
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