Locations of the Promotion Final and the Superfinal of the 2020 Euro Beach Soccer League
The 2020 Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) will be the 23rd edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League, the annual, premier competition in European beach soccer contested between men's national teams. It is organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW).
This season, the competing teams continue to take part in two divisions: the top tier (Division A) and the bottom tier (Division B). 12 teams continue to contest Division A; all twelve teams return from last season's top tier as none were relegated. Division B is expected accommodate 16 nations: nations who did not gain promotion from last season, teams making their debut, and nations returning after an absence from competing in recent years.
The season has been greatly affected by the 2019–20 COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a vastly shortened campaign. Originally due to start in June, the start of the season has been postponed until August which has ultimately seen the entire regular season cancelled. Therefore, all competing teams enter straight into their respective divisions' post-season events: nations of Division A into the Superfinal, to compete to become the winners of this year's EBSL, and countries of Division B into the Promotion Final, to try to earn a spot in Division A next year.[1]
The preliminary 2020 EBSL season schedule was released in November 2019.[2] It was planned that the regular season, taking place during June and July, would consist of five stages of fixtures in Moscow (Russia), Naples (Italy), Nazaré (Portugal), Budapest (Hungary) and one unnamed location.[3]
In March 2020, with the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic increasing rapidly across Europe, Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) announced the suspension of all beach soccer competitions under their auspices until at least June to protect the health of all those involved.[4] In May, with the situation yet to improve, BSWW extended the suspension until September[5] – typically this is the end of the EBSL season. However, in July, with the situation in Europe easing, BSWW announced that the EBSL season will begin in August but with major format changes due to the virus's effect:[1][6]
Due to the extreme delay to the start of the season, the entire regular season has been cancelled.
Only the finals will go ahead; all teams enter straight into their respective divisions' post-season event (usually reserved for the top eight teams from each division at the end of the regular season).
The usual format of the post-season events has been abandoned to accommodate the increase in teams.
There will be no relegation from Division A (in part, this is a provision for the possibility of nations in Division A choosing not to participate out of health and safety concerns surrounding the ongoing pandemic – they will not be penalised for doing so).
Calendar and locations
The calendar was revealed on 8 July 2020. Organisers, BSWW, stressed the schedule may be changed depending on the future state of the COVID-19 Pandemic.[1]
All matches take place at the FMF Beach Soccer Stadium at La Izvor Park in the district of Buiucani, with a capacity of 1,024.[9]
The Promotion Final starts with a round-robin group stage, with the 16 teams split into four groups of four. The winners of each group will advance to the semi-finals to continue to contest for the Promotion Final title. The teams finishing in second, third and fourth place will play in consolation matches against teams in the corresponding positions in the other groups to determine the final positions of 5th–16th.[6]
Each season, only one team, the winners, gain promotion to Division A. However, BSWW have announced that Division A will be expanded from 12 to 16 teams for 2021. Therefore, four teams will gain promotion from Division B this year – the four group winners.[6]
The Superfinal starts with a round-robin group stage, with the 12 teams split into three groups of four. The winners, runners-up and two best third placed teams of each group will advance to the quarter-finals to continue to contest for the EBSL title. The teams finishing in fourth place and worst third place team will play in consolation matches to determine the final positions of 9th–12th.[6]
In the knockout stage, the clubs compete in single-elimination matches. Consolation matches are also played to determine the final rankings involving the clubs knocked out of each round of the knockout stage.
Portugal
