20 Jun 2014

Euro Beach Soccer League 2014: Writing a new chapter in history

by Gabino Renales, BSWW Deputy vice-president

17 uninterrupted years... Those are big words. And even bigger, when you realize you are talking about a multi-stage international event. At the starting point of this season's Euro Beach Soccer League, it is worth remembering the true value of this yearly event that sets the tone for beach soccer on the Old Continent.

The European League has walked a remarkable path so far, and it is not thanks to luck or fortune. It is a matter of confidence and  an eye for the future: The confidence and vision shown by the National Football Associations all across the continent, who have been backing, supporting and putting all their trust in this yearly tournament, have made it the most vivid proof of the development of the sport on the continent.

The importance of the EBSL to the world has become more and more evident when you look at the fact that the last two FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup champions came directly from the increasingly talented pool of teams in the EBSL.

The Euro Beach Soccer League has built an irrefutably spectacular reputation in the beach soccer world by consistently hosting the best teams in Europe year in and year out all over the continent. There have been more than 15 countries to host an EBSL stage and there have been over 30 teams to participate in the last 17 years.

And this is not the end of the road, as the Euro Beach Soccer League will keep on growing. This season, for example, the EBSL will be ushering in a new chapter in the history of the sport, as it will deem what teams earn the right to participate in the first ever European Olympic Games, to be held in Baku in 2015, which will feature beach soccer as one of its most attractive showpieces.