# 2016 Euro Beach Soccer League

The 2016 Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) was the 19th edition of the annual, premier European competition in beach soccer contested between men's national teams, in a league and play-off format, taking place between 1 July and 28 August 2016.
This season a record 26 teams took part in two divisions. Twelve teams continued to contest Division A as in recent seasons, consisting of the top eleven finishers from the previous year plus Romania who were promoted. Whilst Division B was expanded to accommodate fourteen nations; those who did not gain promotion from the previous season, returning and debuting nations, plus Hungary who were relegated from the top tier.
This season there were three stages of fixtures. Each team from Division A played in two stages whilst each team from Division B played in one, earning points for the overall league tables.
At the end of the stages, according to the league tables, the eight best teams in Division A advanced to the Superfinal to compete to become the winners of this year's EBSL. Meanwhile, the top seven teams in Division B and the team ranked bottom of Division A played in the Promotion final to try to earn a spot in Division A next year.
Azerbaijan were promoted to Division A for the first time after beating Hungary in the Promotion Final who were looking to be promoted straight back up in their first season after relegation. Romania finished last in Division A and failed to defend their place in the Promotion Final and were therefore subsequently relegated straight back down to Division B having been promoted in 2015.
Ukraine won the league after a strong performance in the Superfinal, despite only finishing sixth after the preliminary three stages were complete, claiming their first EBSL title, defeating defending champions Portugal in the final in a repeat of the previous season's title deciding match.

## Calendar and Locations

| Dates | Country | City | Stage |
| 1–3 July | Russia | Moscow | Stage 1 |
| 8–10 July | Spain | Sanxenxo | Stage 2 |
| 12–14 August | Hungary | Siófok | Stage 3 |
| 25–28 August | Italy | Catania | Superfinal and Promotion Final |

## Teams

The numbers in brackets show the European ranking of each team prior to the start of the league, out of 33 teams.

### Division A

* Portugal (1st)
* Russia (2nd)
* Italy (3rd)
* Switzerland (4th)
* Spain (5th)
* Ukraine (6th)
* Belarus (8th)
* France (9th)
* Germany (11th)
* Poland (12th)
* Greece (13th)
* Romania (15th)

### Division B

* Hungary (7th)
* England (10th)
* Azerbaijan (14th)
* Czech Republic (16th)
* Turkey (17th)
* Estonia (18th)
* Netherlands (19th)
* Norway (21st)
* Moldova (22nd)
* Bulgaria (23rd)
* Andorra (24th)
* Kazakhstan (30th)
* Denmark (31st)
* Serbia (n/a)
Notes:
    1. Teams making their debut

## Stage 1 (Moscow, 1–3 July)

Matches are listed as local time in Moscow, (UTC+3)
All matches took place at Yantar Stadium in the district of Strogino.

### Division A
#### Awards

| Top scorer | Top scorer | Best player | Best goalkeeper | Ref. |
| Dejan Stankovic | 10 goals | Kirill Romanov | Dona | |

### Division B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | Moldova | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 8 | Group Winners |
| 2 | Estonia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 6 | |
| 3 | Serbia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 17 | −5 | 3 | |
| 4 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 17 | −7 | 0 | |

## Stage 2 (Sanxenxo, 8–10 July)

Matches are listed as local time in Sanxenxo, (UTC+2)
All matches took place at a purpose built stadium on Silgar Beach.

### Division A
#### Awards

| Top scorer | Top scorer | Best player | Best goalkeeper | Ref. |
| Noël Ott | 6 goals | Miguel Santiso ("Kuman") | Elinton Andrade | |

### Division B
## Stage 3 (Siófok, 12–14 August)

Matches are listed as local time in Siófok, (UTC+2)
All matches took place at Mlsz Beach Arena.

### Division A
#### Awards

| Top scorer | Top scorer | Best player | Best goalkeeper | Ref. |
| Ihar Bryshtel | 6 goals | Gabriele Gori | Valery Makarevich | |

### Division B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | Azerbaijan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 9 | Group Winners |
| 2 | Hungary | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 6 | |
| 3 | Bulgaria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 18 | –8 | 3 | |
| 4 | Denmark | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 17 | −6 | 0 | |

## League Tables

At stage completion
Ranking & tie-breaking criteria: Division A – 1. Points earned 2. Goal difference 3. Goals scored | Division B – 1. Highest group placement 2. Points earned 3. Goal difference 4. Goals scored 5. Results against 4th place team

## Promotion Final (Catania, 25–28 August)
### Qualified teams

Teams in bold qualified as group winners. The team in italics attempted to retain their position in Division A, having finished bottom of the table.
* Moldova
* Czech Republic
* England
* Azerbaijan
* Hungary
* Estonia
* Turkey
* Romania (Last place, Division A)

### Group stage

Matches are listed as local time in Catania, (UTC+2)
All matches took place at the DomusBet Arena Beach Stadium with a capacity of 2 000.

#### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | Hungary | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 11 | +8 | 9 | Advance to final |
| 2 | Estonia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 4 | Classification matches |
| 3 | Romania | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 15 | +1 | 3 | Classification matches |
| 4 | Moldova | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 18 | –9 | 0 | Classification matches |

#### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | Azerbaijan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 9 | Advance to final |
| 2 | England | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 3 | Classification matches |
| 3 | Turkey | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 12 | –2 | 3 | Classification matches |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 15 | –9 | 3 | Classification matches |

### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Qualification |
| 1 | Azerbaijan | Promoted to 2017 EBSL Division A |
| 2 | Hungary | Remain in Division B |
| 3 | England | Remain in Division B |
| 4 | Estonia | Remain in Division B |
| 5 | Turkey | Remain in Division B |
| 6 | Romania | Relegated to 2017 EBSL Division B |
| 7 | Czech Republic | Remain in Division B |
| 8 | Moldova | Remain in Division B |
    Italics: team from Division A

## Superfinal (Catania, 25–28 August)
### Qualified Teams

* Spain
* Switzerland
* Russia
* Belarus
* Italy
* Ukraine
* Portugal
* Germany

### Group stage

Matches are listed as local time in Catania, (UTC+2)
All matches took place at the DomusBet Arena Beach Stadium with a capacity of 2 000.

#### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | Ukraine | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 9 | Advance to final |
| 2 | Spain | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 5 | Classification matches |
| 3 | Belarus | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 3 | Classification matches |
| 4 | Germany | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 17 | –12 | 0 | Classification matches |

#### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Notes |
| 1 | Portugal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 12 | +1 | 6 | Advance to final |
| 2 | Russia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 5 | Classification matches |
| 3 | Italy | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 15 | –1 | 3 | Classification matches |
| 4 | Switzerland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 16 | –3 | 1 | Classification matches |

### Play-offs
#### Superfinal match

* 2016 Euro Beach Soccer League champions
* Ukraine First title

### Awards

* Top scorer
* Paolo Palmacci (8 goals)
* Best player
* Bê Martins
* Best goalkeeper
* Vitaliy Sydorenko

### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Notes |
| 1 | Ukraine | champions |
| 2 | Portugal | runners-up |
| 3 | Russia | Third place |
| 4 | Spain | |
| 5 | Belarus | |
| 6 | Italy | |
| 7 | Switzerland | |
| 8 | Germany | |