The 2023 Euro Winners Cup was the eleventh edition of the Euro Winners Cup (EWC), an annual continental beach soccer tournament for men's top-division European clubs. The championship is viewed as beach football's rudimentary version of the better known UEFA Champions League in its parent sport, association football.
Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the tournament was held in Nazaré, Portugal from 9–18 June.
Following a preliminary qualification round, the event began 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, starting with the Round of 32 and ending with the final. Consolation matches were also played to determine other final rankings.
Benfica Loures of Portugal were the defending champions but did not enter this year due to financial restraints. The tournament was won by Kfar Qassem of Israel who claimed their first title.
Teams Qualification The number of clubs entitled to enter automatically from each country depends on the perceived strength of their country's national league. BSWW determine the strength of each league by analysing the performance of all clubs in the EWC on a country-by-country basis over the previous five editions. A points-based ranking is produced from the data with the best performing nations permitted to enter multiple clubs.
Any and all clubs that do not qualify automatically, and/or are surplus to their countries allocated quotas, are entitled to enter the accompanying Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) to take place in the days prior to the competition proper, as a last opportunity to qualify for the EWC group stage; the best four clubs will qualify.
In accordance with sanctions imposed by FIFA and UEFA in 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, clubs from Russia remain banned from entering this year.
Entrants 52 clubs from 21 different nations entered the event – 36 entered straight into the group stage, 16 entered into the preliminary round.
SA MVR of Bulgaria originally entered the EW Challenge and were present for the draw but subsequently withdrew and were replaced by Leixões of Portugal.
Key: H: Hosts \ TH: Title holders Group stage (5)ACD O Sótão (3)AS Étaples (1)Isle of WightBraga (1)NõmmeGRAPMarseille BT (1)Bohemians 1905Nacional (2)Artur Music (1)HustýVarzimVIT Kyiv (1)Telavi (3)Huelva (2)ES Brainoise (1)RigaLevanteNewteam Brussels (1)Ta' XbiexMarbella (2)Atlas AO (1)Paphos (3)Beach Royals DüsseldorfNapoli PatronReal Münster (1)Alanya BelediyesporRostocker Robben (1)Kfar Qassem (3)Naxos (1)Spartak VarnaPisa 2014 (1)Nistru ChișinăuViareggio (1)West DevaEuro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) (8)ACD O Sótão B (2)Marseille MinotsBenfica Viseu SM JallesBuarcos 2017 (2)GenappeLeixõesPerwezNazaré 2022 (1)AO KefalliniaSão Domingos (1)GhidighiciSesimbra (1)PortsmouthVilaflor (1)Miehet
Draw The draw to split the 36 clubs into nine groups of four, and 16 clubs into four groups of four for the group and preliminary stages respectively, took place on 18 May.
Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) Group stage The designation of "home" and "away" teams displayed in the results matrices is for administrative purposes only.
Matches took place from 9 to 11 June. Key
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage Key
Group stage Matches take place from 12 to 14 June.
All group winners, runners-up and third-placed teams, along with the best fourth-placed team, progressed to the knockout stage.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Knockout stage The draw for the round of 32, and allocation of ties to the bracket, took place after the conclusion of all group stage matches on 14 June.
Round of 32 Matches double as EW Challenge semi-finals
Matches took place on 15 June (save for the Challenge matches which took place on 14 June). |- |bgcolor=#ffff99 align=right|Marseille Minots ||bgcolor=#ffff99 align=center|9–6||bgcolor=#ffff99 align=left| Buarcos 2017 |- |bgcolor=#ffff99 align=right|ACD O Sótão B ||bgcolor=#ffff99 align=center|3–3 3–1 ||bgcolor=#ffff99 align=left| Nazaré 2022
Round of 16 onwards Match doubles as EW Challenge final
Awards The following individual awards were presented after the final. Top scorer(s) Bokinha ( Atlas AO)18 goalsBest player Bruno Xavier ( Pisa 2014)Best goalkeeper Eliott Mounoud ( Kfar Qassem)
Top goalscorers Players with at least five goals are listed; goals scored in the Euro Winners Challenge matches are not included. 18 goals Bokinha ( Atlas AO) 15 goals Gerlan Silva ( Huelva) 14 goals Edson Hulk ( Pafos) 12 goals Léo Martins ( Braga) 11 goals
Raphael ( VIT Kyiv) Jordan Santos ( Braga) Miguel Pintado ( Braga)
10 goals Glenn Hodel ( Kfar Qassem) 8 goals
Alisson ( Viareggio) Sameh Moreb ( Kfar Qassem) Maksym Voitok ( VIT Kyiv) Konstantinos Tsitsaris ( Atlas AO) Duarte Vivo ( ACD O Sótão)
7 goals
Marian Măciucă ( Spartak Varna) Paolo Palmacci ( Naxos) Victor Hugo ( Artur Music) Stefano Marinai ( Pisa 2014)
6 goals
Axel Damm ( Rostocker Robben) Dmytro Voitenko ( Artur Music) Joscha Metzler ( Real Münster) Ryan Rangel ( VIT Kyiv) Raffaele Ortolini ( Pisa 2014) Cami ( Pisa 2014) Deiverson Dmais ( Kfar Qassem) Takuya Akaguma ( Huelva) Yurii Shcherytsia ( VIT Kyiv) Antônio ( Atlas AO) Benjamin Jr. ( ACD O Sótão) Thanger Alves ( Braga)
5 goals
Diogo Oliveira ( GRAP) Sébastien Huck ( Grande-Motte Pyramide) André Pinto ( Nacional) Lukáš Trampota ( Bohemians 1905) Leonid Podlesnov ( Nistru Chișinău) Miguel Junior ( Pafos) Igor Melo ( Artur Music) Oleg Zborovskyi ( Artur Music) Filipe Santos ( Varzim) Eduard Suarez ( Real Münster) Sebastiano Paterniti ( Marseille BT) Lucas Ponzetti ( Marbella) Pedro Juanito ( Marbella) Pedrinho ( Levante) Kuman ( Levante) Zé Lucas ( Viareggio) Ozu Moreira ( Viareggio) Dani Haro ( Huelva) Ivan Glutskyi ( VIT Kyiv) Noël Ott ( Kfar Qassem) Ahmad Gabarin ( Kfar Qassem) Spyridon Venardos ( Atlas AO) David Ardil ( ACD O Sótão) Bê Martins ( Braga)
Source: BSWW
Final standings RankTeamResult 1 Kfar Qassem Champions (1st title) 2 Pisa 2014 Runners-up 3 ACD O Sótão Third place 4 Huelva 5 VIT Kyiv 6 Braga 7 Atlas AO 8 Marseille Minots 9–16 Artur Music Eliminated in the Round of 16 ACD O Sótão B Levante Marbella Marseille BT Real Münster Varzim Viareggio 17–32 AS Étaples Eliminated in the Round of 32 Bohemians 1905 Buarcos 2017 ES Brainoise Grande-Motte Pyramide Nacional Napoli Patron Naxos Nazaré 2022 Newteam Brussels Nistru Chișinău Nõmme Pafos Riga Rostocker Robben Spartak Varna
See also 2023 Women's Euro Winners Cup
References
External links Euro Winners Cup 2023, at Beach Soccer Worldwide Euro Winners Challenge 2023 (preliminary round), at Beach Soccer Worldwide