Euro Beach Soccer League
The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer contested between European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in Europe and one of the oldest in the world, only surpassed in longevity by the World Cup and Mundialito events. The EBSL was originally created to promote the newly founded sport in Europe in a competitive environment and was originally called the European Pro Beach Soccer League until 2004.
| Organising body | BSWW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) |
| Divisions | Division A Division B |
| Number of teams | ~25 (16 in Division A, others in Division B) |
| Level on pyramid | 1–2 |
| Domestic cup(s) | European Games |
| International cup(s) | Intercontinental Cup |
| Current champions | Italy (3rd title) (2023) |
| Most championships | Portugal (8 titles) |
| TV partners | BeachSoccerTV |
| Website | Beach Soccer Worldwide |
| Current: 2023 Euro Beach Soccer League | |
Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the teams compete in two divisions; A, consisting of the league's 12 best nations and B, consisting of the other teams competing that year. A system of promotion and relegation exists between the two divisions.
The typical league format is played in two phases; a regular season and a post-season. Teams play in stages of fixtures during the regular season, hoping to earn enough points for their division's league table to qualify for their respective post-season events; for Division A, the Superfinal, in which league title is then directly contested, and for Division B, the Promotion Final, in which promotion to A is then directly contested.
The competition takes place between June and September. The league's rounds of matches are staged in a series of locations across Europe in which multiple nations gather to play, having spread as west as Dublin, Ireland and as east as Baku, Azerbaijan. Matches take place every few weeks over the course of a weekend, including Fridays. At most, Division A teams play 10 games a season and Division B nations, 7 games.
38 nations of Europe have competed since the initial 1998 season. Only four have featured in every season – France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The most successful nation is Portugal with eight titles, followed by Spain and Russia with five titles each. Italy have three titles (and are also current champions), Switzerland have two titles, whilst Germany, France and Ukraine have one title each.