The road to Tahiti 2013 begins

Official Draw for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 Tahiti ? Europe Qualifier distributes 24 teams in 6 groups

The first qualifying stage for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 Tahiti is just round the corner. Moscow will host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 – Europe Qualifier from 1st of July to 8th of July, and, after the Official draw held this morning in Terracina, the 24 participating teams know exactly who they need to beat and what stage do they need to get if they want to be in Papeete in September 2013.

There are two major changes in this edition’s qualifier. The toughest beach soccer tournament in the global panorama, with 24 National sides fighting for one same goal, will discern the four (instead of five) slots for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 Tahiti. The reason for this change is that Oceania, continent hosting the event, gets two berths instead of the one they were granted before.

The second big change, even more relevant, is the way that the four teams qualified teams will be selected. Departing from a six-group round robin format, with four teams in every group, the best two ranked teams in each of them will get into the round of sixteen, to be held following the play-off format. This is where the key modification happens… The eight winning sides will be again distributed into two groups of four (depending on their results during the competition), and will face round robin again, with the best two ranked sides earning the ticket to Tahiti. This way, the competition gets much more fair, and allows teams to merit their qualification in more than one single match.

Taking advantage of the celebration of the Euro Beach Soccer League stage in Terracina, with 12 teams involved, the Official Draw for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 – Europe Qualifier was held this morning at the Mediterranean resort. The ceremony was chaired by Nicola Procaccini, Sindaco di Terracina, Paride Martella (former president Latina Province), Josep Maldonado, Spanish Senator and President of the Sports Comission of the Generalitat de Catalunya, together with, of course, the Beach Soccer Worldwide vice-president and FIFA Board Member, Joan Cusco, and Beach Soccer Worldwide Head of Competitions, Josep Ponset, in charge of conducting the draw.

The draw was held following the following guidelines:

The five best ranked teams (according to BSWW European Rank) plus the host country of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 – Qualifier Moscow will be seeded as follows:

1)    A1 – Russia (Host Country)
2)    B1 – Portugal (2nd Place BSWW European Ranking)
3)    C1 – Switzerland (3rd Place BSWW European Ranking)
4)    D1 – Spain (4th Place BSWW European Ranking)
5)    E1 – Italy (5th Place BSWW European Ranking)
6)    F1 – Romania (6th Place BSWW European Ranking)

The remaining eighteen teams were placed into three pots A, B and C, always based on the BSWW European Ranking, to be afterwards drawn into the six different groups.

After the draw, this is the final composition of the groups:

Group A:
Russia, Poland, Germany, Latvia

Group B:
Portugal, Ukraine, Greece, Moldova

Group C:
Switzerland, Azerbaijan, England, Belarus

Group D:
Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Norway

Group E:
Italy, Hungary, Israel, Bulgaria

Group F:
Romania, France, Czech Republic, Estonia

Match schedule to be confirmed soon.