Beach soccer at the 2023 World Beach Games – Qualification (UEFA)

Beach soccer at the 2023 World Beach Games – Qualification (UEFA)
2023 World Beach Games Qualifier – Europe
Official event logo.
Tournament details
Host countryItaly
Dates29 August – 4 September 2022
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
№ of events2 (1 men's; 1 women's)
Teams20 (from 14 countries)
Men's event
Teams13
Final positions
1 Champions  Spain
2 Runners-up  Portugal
3 Third place  Ukraine
Matches played31
Goals scored292 (9.42 per match)
Women's event
Teams7
Final positions
1 Champions  England
2 Runners-up  Ukraine
3 Third place  Spain
Matches played14
Goals scored86 (6.14 per match)
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The UEFA qualifiers for the 2023 World Beach Games, known officially as the ANOC World Beach Games European Qualifier Catania 2022, was a beach soccer tournament contested by European national teams who are members of UEFA that took place to determine the nations from Europe that qualified to the beach soccer events at the second edition of the ANOC World Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia.[1]

The tournament consisted of two events: the men's qualifiers and the women's qualifiers, both round robin and knockout competitions from which the top five teams qualified from the former and the top four teams qualified from the latter.[2]

Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the competition took place in Catania, Italy from 29 August – 4 September 2022.[3] The men's defending champions were Russia, but they were banned from entering the competition due to invasion of Ukraine;[4][5] Spain won the men's title on this occasion.[6] The women's defending champions were England,[7] who successfully defended the title.[6]

Venue

The matches took place at the Sicily Arena Beach Stadium on Playa di Catania (Catania Beach).[3]

Men's tournament

Teams

13 teams entered the men's event.[2] The entrants are listed below, ordered by their European Ranking in parentheses:[8]

  1.  Portugal (2)
  2.   Switzerland (3)
  3.  Spain (4)
  4.  Italy (5)
  5.  Ukraine (7)
  6.  Germany (8)
  7.  France (9)
  8.  Turkey (10)
  9.  Azerbaijan (11)
  10.  Moldova (15)
  11.  Norway (18)
  12.  Czech Republic (19)
  13.  Sweden (23)

Draw

The draw to split the 13 teams into four groups – three of three teams and one of four – took place at 11:00 CEST (UTC+2) on 8 August 2022 at the headquarters of BSWW in Barcelona, Spain. Its procedure was as follows:[2][9]

For the purpose of the draw, the 13 teams were split into four pots according to their world ranking – the hosts and three highest ranked teams were seeded and assigned to the heads of the groups; the next highest ranked teams were then placed in Pot 1, down to the lowest ranked team placed in Pot 3.

One team from Pot 1 and one team from Pot 2 were drawn into the four groups. The sole team in Pot 3 was drawn at random into one of the groups.

The composition of the pots is shown below:

Seeds Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3

Group stage

The group stage took place from 29–31 August.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification ITA FRA NOR
1  Italy (H) 2 2 0 0 0 22 5 +17 6 Quarterfinals — 5–1 17–4
2  France 2 1 0 0 1 6 6 0 3 — — 5–1
3  Norway 2 0 0 0 2 5 22 −17 0 9th–12th place semifinals — — —
Source: BSWW
(H) Host

Group B

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification POR GER MDA
1  Portugal 2 2 0 0 0 18 6 +12 6 Quarterfinals — 12–3 6–3
2  Germany 2 1 0 0 1 8 14 −6 3 — — 5–2
3  Moldova 2 0 0 0 2 5 11 −6 0 9th–12th place semifinals — — —
Source: BSWW

Group C

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification SUI UKR AZE
1   Switzerland 2 2 0 0 0 14 7 +7 6 Quarterfinals — 7–3 7–4
2  Ukraine 2 1 0 0 1 8 11 −3 3 — — 5–4
3  Azerbaijan 2 0 0 0 2 8 12 −4 0 9th–12th place semifinals — — —
Source: BSWW

Group D

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification ESP TUR CZE SWE
1  Spain 3 3 0 0 0 20 10 +10 9 Quarterfinals — 6–4 7–3 —
2  Turkey 3 2 0 0 1 16 9 +7 6 — — 4–2 8–1
3  Czech Republic 3 1 0 0 2 11 12 −1 3 9th–12th place semifinals — — — 6–1
4  Sweden 3 0 0 0 3 5 21 −16 0 3–7 — — —
Source: BSWW

Knockout stage

9th–12th place

 
9th–12th place semifinalsNinth place match
 
      
 
1 September; 13:30; Report
 
 
 Moldova5
 
3 September; 08:30; Report
 
 Czech Republic3
 
 Moldova2
 
1 September; 16:15; Report
 
 Azerbaijan5
 
 Azerbaijan6
 
 
 Norway3
 
Eleventh place match
 
 
2 September; 08:30; Report
 
 
 Czech Republic8
 
 
 Norway2

1st–8th place

The quarter-finals winners, plus the winners of the fifth place match, qualify to the 2023 World Beach Games.

Fifth place match5th–8th place semifinalsQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
2 September; 17:30; Report
 Italy4
3 September; 17:30; Report Ukraine (a.e.t.)53 September; 12:15; Report
 Italy5 Ukraine4
 Germany42 September; 13:45; Report Spain7
 Spain8
4 September; 16:15; Report Germany34 September; 17:30; Report
 Italy5 Spain6
 France12 September; 15:00; Report Portugal2
 Portugal11
3 September; 11:00; Report Turkey43 September; 13:35; Report
Seventh place match Turkey2 Portugal8Third place match
4 September; 11:00; Report France42 September; 12:15; Report  Switzerland44 September; 12:15; Report
 Germany2  Switzerland9 Ukraine4
 Turkey1 France6  Switzerland3

Awards

Winners trophy

 2023 World Beach Games – Europe Qualifier
champions 

Spain
First title

Individual awards

Top scorer
Spain Chiky Ardil
11 goals
Best player
Spain Chiky Ardil
Best goalkeeper
Spain Dona
Source: BSWW

Top goalscorers

Players who scored at least four goals are listed.

There were 292 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 9.42 goals per match.

11 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

6 goals

5 goals

  • Portugal Miguel Pintado
  • France Jean-Stéphane Belhomme
  • Switzerland Dejan Stankovic
  • Switzerland Glenn Hodel
  • Spain Jose Arias
  • Spain Alejandro Achutegui
  • Turkey Bariş Terzioglu

4 goals

  • Azerbaijan Orkhan Mammadov
  • Moldova Nicolae Ignat
  • Portugal Belchior
  • France Jérémy Basquaise
  • Ukraine Oleksandr Korniichuk
  • Ukraine Dmytro Voitenko
  • Switzerland Sandro Spaccarotella
  • Germany Joscha Metzler
  • Germany Christoph Thürk
  • Czech Republic Tomáš Huráb
  • Spain Francisco Casano
  • Spain Kuman

Source: BSWW

Final standings

Rank Team Qualification
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Spain 2023 World Beach Games
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Portugal
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Ukraine
4   Switzerland
5  Italy
6  France
7  Germany
8  Turkey
9  Azerbaijan
10  Moldova
11  Czech Republic
12  Norway
13  Sweden
Source: BSWW

Women's tournament

Teams

Seven teams entered the women's event which are as follows,[2] ordered by their European Ranking in parentheses:[8]

  1.  Spain (1)
  2.  England (3)
  3.   Switzerland (4)
  4.  Ukraine (5)
  5.  Czech Republic (6)
  6.  Italy (n/a)
  7.  Sweden (n/a)

Draw

The draw to split the seven teams into two groups – one of four teams and one of three – took place at 11:00 CEST (UTC+2) on 8 August 2022 at the headquarters of BSWW in Barcelona, Spain alongside the men's draw. Its procedure was as follows:[2][9]

For the purpose of the draw, the seven teams were split into four pots according to their world ranking – the hosts and highest ranked team were seeded and assigned to the heads of the groups; the next highest ranked teams were then placed in Pot 1, down to the lowest ranked team placed in Pot 3.

One team from Pot 1 and one team from Pot 2 were drawn into the two groups. The sole team in Pot 3 was drawn at random into one of the groups.

The composition of the pots is shown below:

Seeds Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3
  •  Italy (hosts) (assigned to A1)
  •  Spain (assigned to B1)

Group stage

The group stage took place from 31 August – 2 September.

The group winners and runners-up qualify to the 2023 World Beach Games.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification ENG ITA CZE
1  England 2 2 0 0 0 9 2 +7 6 Semifinals — — 5–0
2  Italy (H) 2 1 0 0 1 8 6 +2 3 2–4 — 6–2
3  Czech Republic 2 0 0 0 2 2 11 −9 0 Fifth place match — — —
Source: BSWW
(H) Host

Group B

Pos Team Pld W W+ WP L GF GA GD Pts Qualification UKR ESP SWE SUI
1  Ukraine 3 2 0 0 1 10 8 +2 6[a] Semifinals — — 5–2 —
2  Spain 3 2 0 0 1 13 6 +7 6[a] 1–2 — — 8–2
3  Sweden 3 1 0 0 2 8 11 −3 3[b] Fifth place match — 2–4 — —
4   Switzerland 3 1 0 0 2 9 15 −6 3[b] 5–3 — 2–4 —
Source: BSWW
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Ukraine and Spain are ranked based on their head-to-head result.
  2. ^ a b Sweden and Switzerland are ranked based on their head-to-head result.

Knockout stage

5th place

 
Fifth place match
 
  
 
3 September; 09:45; Report
 
 
 Czech Republic3
 
 
 Sweden2
 

1st–4th place

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
3 September; 15:00; Report
 
 
 England3
 
4 September; 15:00; Report
 
 Spain1
 
 England3
 
3 September; 16:15; Report
 
 Ukraine0
 
 Ukraine (a.e.t.)4
 
 
 Italy3
 
Third place match
 
 
4 September; 13:30; Report
 
 
 Spain5
 
 
 Italy3

Awards

Winners trophy

2023 World Beach Games – Europe Qualifier
Champions
England
England
Second title

Individual awards

Top scorer(s)
Spain Cristina Gonzalez
6 goals
Best player
England Molly Clark
Best goalkeeper
Ukraine Anastasiia Terekh
Source: BSWW

Top goalscorers

Players who scored multiple goals are listed.

There were 86 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 6.14 goals per match.

6 goals

  • Spain Cristina Gonzalez

5 goals

  • Italy Veronica Privitera

4 goals

  • Switzerland Sara Garcia
  • England Molly Clark
  • Italy Maria Vecchione
  • Ukraine Yuliia Dekhtiar
  • Spain Sara Tui

3 goals

  • Sweden Tuva Klar
  • Sweden Kajsa Sund

2 goals

  • Switzerland Christine Schärer
  • England Hannah Short
  • England Wendy Martin
  • England Gemma Hillier
  • England Alisha Buckingham
  • England Anne Meiwald
  • Italy Giulia Olivieri
  • Italy Roberta Illiano
  • Sweden Ebba Nilsson
  • Ukraine Anastasiia Klipachenko
  • Ukraine Yuliia Kostiuk
  • Ukraine Myroslava Vypasniak
  • Ukraine Iryna Dubytska
  • Spain Andrea Miron
  • Spain Adriana Manau

Source: BSWW

Final standings

Rank Team Qualification
1st place, gold medalist(s)  England[a] 2023 World Beach Games
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Ukraine
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Spain
4  Italy
5  Czech Republic
6  Sweden
7   Switzerland

Source: BSWW

a. ^ England has no independent National Olympic Committee (NOC) and will instead be represented at the Games as  Great Britain.

References

  1. ^ "Qualification system for the ANOC World Beach Games 2023 defined". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 13 June 2022. Archived from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "ANOC World Beach Games European Qualifier draw procedures". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 7 August 2022. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Gli ANOC World Beach Games a Catania dal 29 agosto al 4 settembre". CataniaToday (in Italian). 3 July 2022. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Decision of the UEFA Executive Committee related to Russia" (PDF). UEFA.com (Press release). Union of European Football Associations. 28 February 2022. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Measures taken by BSWW after the attacks on Ukraine". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 28 February 2022. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  6. ^ a b Houston, Michael (4 September 2022). "England and Spain top beach soccer qualifying for 2023 ANOC World Beach Games". Inside the Games. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Russia victorious over hosts in Salou final!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 12 May 2019. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Rankings". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 5 August 2022. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ a b "World Beach Games European Qualifier Catania groups decided". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 August 2022. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.