2018 Euro Winners Cup
The 2018 Euro Winners Cup was the sixth edition of the Euro Winners Cup (EWC), an annual continental beach soccer tournament for men's top-division European clubs. The championship is the sport's version of the better known UEFA Champions League in association football. Organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the tournament was held in Nazaré, Portugal from 25 May till 3 June 2018, consisting of a preliminary qualifying round and the competition proper. Following the qualifying round, the competition proper began 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. Braga of Portugal were the defending champions and successfully defended their title after beating Kristall of Russia on penalties in the final. Teams. A record 58 teams have entered the championship; 26 qualify straight into the Main Round whilst 32 compete in the Nazaré Cup / Preliminary Round to attempt to qualify for the competition proper. 26 different nations are represented. Qualification. As per BSWW regulations , qualification for the 2018 EWC is achieved as follows: Entrants. For context, in February 2018, BSWW deemed the top four leagues in Europe to be (in no particular order) the Portuguese, Russian, Italian and Spanish leagues. Venues. Two venues were used in one host city: Nazaré, Leiria District, Portugal. Matches took place at Praia de Nazaré (Nazaré Beach) on one of two pitches. The "Main pitch", otherwise known as the Estádio do Viveiro (Viveiro Stadium), with a capacity of 1,600, hosted 79 matches, including all main bracket ties in the knockout stage. "Pitch 2", a purpose made pitch, located adjacent  to the main stadium, hosted 48 matches. Squads. Each club must submit a squad of a maximum of 12 players that includes a minimum of two goalkeepers. Players are to be assigned shirt numbers between 1 and 22 (the number 1 must be reserved for a goalkeeper). Three delegates must accompany the players, including at least one medical personnel. A maximum of three foreign players are allowed to be part of the squad. This was later increased to four, however a maximum of three of these players are permitted to play in a match. Draws. The draws took place on  May 9 at 12:00 local time in Nazaré, Portugal at the Biblioteca Municipal de Nazaré (Nazaré Public Library), conducted by the Mayor of Nazaré, Walter Chicharro, PFP Director Pedro Dias, BSWW Deputy Vice-President, Gabino Renales and BSWW Head of Competitions, Josep Ponset. Nazaré Cup (Preliminary Round). The BSWW organising committee decided to split the 32 teams into eight groups of four, conducting the draw as follows: Main Round. The BSWW organising committee decided to split the 34 teams into seven groups of four and two groups of three. Two of the groups of four involve the eight qualifiers from  the preliminary round. This meant the draw concerned determining just five of the seven groups of four, conducted as follows: Nazaré Cup (incl. Preliminary Round). The Preliminary Round is open to all clubs who did not automatically qualify for the Main Round as domestic league champions. Overview. Decision to make changes. The Preliminary Round has undergone considerable changes. In last season's EWC, five of the eight quarter-finalists and three of the four semifinalists qualified via this route; just three teams in the quarter-finals and one team in the semi-finals was an automatic qualifier / national league champion . To protect the competition's original purpose as a championship primarily for Europe's league champions, BSWW made changes ensuring that this year only two quarter-finalists and subsequently one semifinalist would be non-champion qualifiers from the Preliminary Round. Three semifinalists were guaranteed to be a national league champion. This was later revised so that only one team in the quarter-finals would be a qualifier, whilst the other seven would be guaranteed to be a league champion. A qualifier was no longer ensured of a semifinal spot. Format. This season, embedded within the wider scope of this edition  of the Euro Winners Cup, an additional tournament will be taking place. It has been described as a "tournament within a tournament". This supplementary event is known as the "Nazaré Beach Soccer Cup" (NBSC):- Subsequent rounds. Second group stage. The eight qualifiers progressed to the second group stage that took place as part of the Main Round of the EWC. Final. The best two teams of the second group stage advanced to the final that took place as part of the Round of 16 of the EWC. Main Round. The Main Round commenced on 28 May and ended on 30  May. 34 teams entered into the Main Round – 26 European domestic league champions (and select league runners-up) who qualify automatically plus eight qualifiers from the Preliminary Round, competing in a round robin format. Official practice sessions for the automatic qualifiers took place on 26 and 27 May. The Main Round fixtures for Groups A–G were announced on 17 May. The matches for the Nazaré Cup qualifiers groups (H and I) were released on 27 May once the composition of said groups was confirmed. All times are local, WEST (UTC+1). Knockout stage. From Groups A–G of the Main  Round, all seven groups winners and seven runners-up (originally, only five from seven runners-up) advance to the knockout stage (total of 14 clubs). Originally, from Groups H and I (Nazaré Cup qualifiers groups), the winners and runners-up from both groups were to advance to the knockout stage (a total of four clubs). However the format was later revised; only the winners of each group (two clubs) now advance to play in the knockout stage. These two clubs remain separate from the other 14 in the Round of 16 draw. 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. Awards. The following individual awards were presented after the final. Top goalscorers. "Players who scored at least 5 goals" Goals scored in both the competition proper "and" the preliminary round are counted.