The event began with a qualification round. The competition proper then commenced, 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 16 and ending with the final. Consolation matches were also played to determine other final rankings.
Kristall of Russia were the defending champions but were barred from entering the competition this year.[Note RUS] The final was contended between two Portuguese clubs, Benfica Loures and Braga; the former won the competition for the first time, whilst the latter finished as runners-up for the third year straight.[3]
Teams
Qualification
Normal qualification rules returned, having been suspended for the last two editions, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[4][5]
The number of clubs which are 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, as seen in the table below.[6][7]
From the most recent edition of their country's national league:
The first through sixth place performing nations can enter three clubs (league champions, runners-up and third-placed team).
The seventh, eighth and ninth place performing nations can enter two clubs (league champions and runners-up).
The tenth place and below performing nations can enter just one club, their league champions.
The above clubs take priority and are offered their country's slots first. However, if such clubs choose not to are or unable to participate, the slot is offered to the next highest placed teams from their league in turn until one accepts. Thus, in reality, some countries fill their allocated quota with clubs placed considerably lower down in their league, don't fill all their slots, or sometimes fill no slots at all.
The "host club" and defending champions also enter automatically.[8]
Any and all clubs that don't 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 eight clubs will qualify.[2]
Association ranking & slot allocation for 2022 Euro Winners Cup
A further 27 members of UEFA are unranked; all are entitled to enter one club.
^Portugal (POR): Portugal are entitled to one extra slot (+1) as the host nation.
^Russia (RUS): In accordance with sanctions imposed by FIFA and UEFA in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, clubs from Russia were disqualified (DQ) from entering.[9][10][11]
Entrants
60 clubs from 22 different nations entered the event – 32 entered straight into the group stage, 28 entered into the preliminary round.[12]
La Louvière of Belgium originally entered but were subsequently replaced by Benfica Viseu of Portugal.
The draw to split the clubs 32 and 28 clubs into groups for both the group and preliminary stages respectively took place at 12:00 CEST (UTC+2) on 6 May at BSWW's headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.[13]
Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round)
The designation of "home" and "away" teams displayed in the results matrices is for administrative purposes only.
Matches took place from 3 to 5 June.
The group winners, plus the best runner-up, qualified to the competition proper.
The group winners, plus the six best runners-up (excluding the Challenge qualifiers groups), progress to the knockout stage. The statistically next best eight performing clubs recede to the 17th–24th place placement matches; the worst performing eight clubs recede to the 25th–32nd place placement matches.
^"Euro Winners Cup 2015 to be biggest yet". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 21 May 2017. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
^ a b"Euro Winners Cup to return to Nazaré in 2022". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
^ a b"Casa Benfica win 2022 Euro Winners Cup!". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 12 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
^The 2020 beach soccer season to begin in August. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
^2021 Calendar Launch. Beach Soccer Worldwide (video). 13 April 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
^"Slots - Euro Winners Cup 2022". Beach Soccer Worldwide via Beach Soccer Belgium. 25 January 2022. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^"Draw Procedure - EWC 2022 (Men)". Beach Soccer Worldwide via BLC Vamos. 5 May 2022. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^"Euro Winners Cup 2018 – Invitation Letter" (PDF). Beach Soccer Worldwide. 9 February 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
^"Decision of the UEFA Executive Committee related to Russia" (PDF). UEFA (Press release). Union of European Football Associations. 28 February 2022. p. 2. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
^"Measures taken by BSWW after the attacks on Ukraine". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
^"Утверждён список мужских и женских команд Euro Winners 2022" [The list of men's and women's teams of Euro Winners 2022 has been approved]. Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian). 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^"Euro Winners Cup 2022 teams confirmed". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
^"Euro Winners Cup draws to be held on Friday". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 4 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
^"Round of 16 teams confirmed and drawn into pairings". Beach Soccer Worldwide. 8 June 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
External links
Euro Winners Cup 2022, at Beach Soccer Worldwide
Euro Winners Challenge 2022 (preliminary round), at Beach Soccer Worldwide