Held in Catania, Italy from 24 to 29 May 2016 in tandem with the men's edition,[1] the event started with a round robin group stage. At its conclusion, the best teams progressed to the knockout stage, a series of single elimination games to determine the winners. Consolation matches were also played to determine other final rankings.
The tournament was won by Swiss team Grasshoppers who beat Germany's BeachKick Ladies Berlin in the final to win their first European title.[3]
Participating teams
12 teams entered the inaugural tournament from nine countries – the top-level domestic beach soccer league/championship champions plus, for some countries, other top non-champions clubs from the nation indicated.
Group stage
Catania
HTC Zwolle
Grasshoppers
UKS Sparta Daleszyce
Catanzaro
DTS' 35
WFC Zvezda
Beachkick Ladies Berlin
Terracina Ladies
Portsmouth
Nomme Kalju
Sogesport Club Esportiu
Draw
The draw to split the 12 teams into three groups of four took place in the morning of 4 May in the host city of Cantaia, Italy alongside the men's competition draw.[4]
As the club representing the host city Catania, DomusBet Catania BS were assigned to Group A. The other teams were then drawn to one of the three groups. Clubs from the same country could not be drawn into the same group.[4]
The teams finishing in fourth place and the worst third placed team were knocked out of title-winning contention, receding to play in consolation matches to determine 9th through 12th place in the final standings.
