2018 Euro Beach Soccer League
The 2018 Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) was the 21st edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League, the annual, premier competition in European beach soccer contested between men's national teams. It was organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), in a league and play-off format.
Composite image of the banner style logos used during the 2018 EBSL. At each regular season stage, the main EBSL banner is joined solely by the subtitle corresponding to that stage. | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host countries | Azerbaijan Portugal Russia Belarus Germany Italy |
| Dates | 22 June – 9 September |
| Teams | 27 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 6 (in 6 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Italy (2nd title) |
| Runners-up | Spain |
| Third place | Portugal |
| Fourth place | Russia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 89 |
| Goals scored | 714 (8.02 per match) |
This season, teams continued to take part in two divisions, the top tier (Division A) and the bottom tier (Division B). 12 teams continued to contest Division A, consisting of the top 11 finishers from last year plus Turkey who were promoted to the top tier. Whilst Division B accommodated 15 nations: 13 nations who did not gain promotion from last season, Georgia who made their debut, plus Greece who were relegated from the top tier at the end of last season. No nations returned after an absence from competing in recent years, however, the Netherlands, who had competed in the last two seasons, did not enter this year.
A total of five stages of fixtures were scheduled during the regular season. Each team from Division A played in two stages whilst each team in Division B played in one. At each stage the participating nations earned points for the overall league tables.
At the end of the regular season, according to the league tables, the eight best teams in Division A advanced to the post-season event, the Superfinal, to compete to become the winners of this year's EBSL. Meanwhile, the top seven teams in Division B (the four group winners and three best runners-up) and the team ranked bottom of Division A played in a different post-season event, the Promotion Final, to try to earn a spot in Division A next year.
The top scorer of the 2002 season, Alan of Portugal, announced his retirement on 11 June; Alan competed in all 20 EBSL seasons since the inaugural edition in 1998, meaning this year marked the first EBSL season in which he did not feature.
The league also acted as the qualification route to the 2019 European Games; the top six teams of the Superfinal plus the Promotion Final winners qualified to joint hosts Belarus.
Germany, the defending Division A team in the Promotion Final, beat Romania in the final to win the event, therefore retaining their Division A status for next season. Russia were the defending champions but were knocked out of title-winning contention in the group stage of the Superfinal, ultimately finishing fourth in the post-season event, just the second time (the other 2005), that Russia failed to finish in the top three. The concluding match of the Superfinal was contested between Italy and Spain, who were looking to end 13 and 12-year waits since their last respective EBSL titles (2005 and 2006). Italy, on home sand, won the match on penalties to claim their second European title.