Glomminge and Beach FF crowned Swedish champions

The country’s national championships took place on Saturday with plenty of thrills and spills on show.

The Swedish Beach Soccer Championships drew to a close on Saturday with penalties and last-minute goals helping to decide the men’s and women’s champions.

The men’s semi-finals saw Glomminge – who featured at the recent Euro Winners Cup in Nazaré – get past Torsos GOIF while Bemannia beat Norsjo IF 6-2 to set up the final.

In a thrilling contest, Glömminge IF looked to have a comfortable victory in the bag when they led 3-1 with just a few minutes remaining.

However, Bemannia battled back and managed to get parity at 3-3. After a goalless extra-time period, Glomminge held their nerve in the shootout to tie up their third championship.

In the women’s competition, Beach FF won their semi against IFK Kalmar while defending champions Vetlanda United picked up a 5-3 victory against 2016 finalists Roslagens BFK.

In a close-fought final, the sides were level at 1-1 inside the final minute, only for Beach FF to score twice in quick succession and wrap up the title.

After another hugely successful event for beach soccer in Sweden, Patrick Blomstrom, from the Swedish Football Association’s Beach Soccer Committee, said: “The technical and tactical level of the players and teams improves every year.

“International experience is important in this regard and we now have more teams striving to win the Swedish Championship so they can go and play in the Euro Winners Cup 2018 like Vetlanda United and Glomminge did this year.”

Results

Men’s semi-finals

Glömminge IF 4-1 Torsas GOIF

Norsjö IF 2-6 Bemannia FC

Men’s final

Glomminge IF 4-3 Bemannia FC (AET)

Women’s semi-finals

IFK Kalmar 4-7 Beach FF

Vetlanda United IF 5-3 Roslagens BFK

Women’s final

Beach FF 3-1 Vetlanda United IF