| Tourney Name: | FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Qualification (UEFA) |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Other Titles: | FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifier - Europe - Moscow 2019 |
| Size: | 180px |
| Country: | Russia |
| City: | Moscow |
| Dates: | 19–27 July 2019 |
| Num Teams: | 20 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 1 |
| Cities: | 1 |
| Count: | 2 |
| Matches: | 51 |
| Goals: | 415 |
| Player: |  Yuri Krasheninnikov |
| Goalkeeper: | Maxim Chuzhkov |
| Prevseason: | 2017 |
| Nextseason: | 2021 |
The 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for UEFA was a beach soccer tournament contested by European men's national teams who are members of UEFA that determined the five nations from Europe that qualified to the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay.[1]
The event, organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) in cooperation with local entities, the Russian Football Union (RFU), Russian Ministry of Sport (RMoS) and the Government of Moscow,[2] took place in Moscow, Russia from 19–27 July 2019.[1] This also marked the first edition of the event to officially be under the patronage of UEFA, including the confederation's financial support.[3] [4]
The tournament was a multi-stage competition, consisting of a first group stage, knockout round, second group stage and finishing with placement matches.[3]
Poland were the defending champions but were eliminated from title-winning contention in the second group stage, ultimately finishing seventh. The competition was won by hosts Russia who, along with Italy, Belarus, Switzerland and Portugal, earned qualification to the World Cup by finishing in the top five (with the Belarusian team notably qualifying for the first time).[5]
The tournament started with a round-robin group stage; the top nations from each group advanced to the round of 16. The eight winners of the round of 16 then advanced to the second round-robin group stage. The top two teams of each group (total of four nations) secured qualification to the World Cup; the winners of each group also advanced to the tournament final to contest the title; the nations finishing in second through fourth played in consolation matches to decide third through eighth place, with the team claiming fifth place also qualifying for the World Cup finals.[1] [3]
The format received criticism, being called the "softest" configuration in the history of UEFA qualifiers, "forgiving the mistakes of teams again and again", that in theory, a team could qualify for the World Cup despite winning just two and yet losing six matches.[6]
20 teams entered,[7] a figure markedly lower than in recent editions.[8] They are listed below.
Some notable absentees included England, Romania[9] and Greece (all ranked in the European top 20, present at all previous qualifiers) and the Netherlands who qualified to the World Cup via this event in 2013.
One venue was used in the city of Moscow, Russia.
The draw to split the 20 teams into five groups of four was conducted by BSWW at the Marriott Hotel[3] in Minsk, Belarus at 10:30 FET on 29 June.[7] [12]
Initially, all the teams were ordered according to their BSWW World Ranking.[13] The top five teams (incl. the hosts) were seeded and each respectively assigned to position one of one of the groups. The remaining fifteen teams were then split into three pots of five according to their world ranking, with the highest placed in Pot 1 down to the lowest placed in Pot 3.[7]
From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A, the second team drawn placed into Group B and so on. Pot 1 teams were placed in position two, Pot 2 teams in position three and so on.[7]
The composition of the seeds and pots is shown below:[7]
| Seeds | width=160 | Pot 1 | width=160 | Pot 2 | width=160 | Pot 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (3) (2) (6) (7) (9) | (19) (24) (29) (32) (33) | (34) (35) (36) (40) (47) | (49) (51) (54) (59) (91) |
Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat.[14] The top three nations and best fourth placed nation from each group advances to the round of 16.
The competition format was announced on 16 April when up to 32 teams were expected to participate.[15] Despite only 20 teams ultimately entering, BSWW decided not to change the format.[8] With Ukraine's withdrawal, this means just three teams were eliminated at this stage.
All times are local, MSK (UTC+3).
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The round of 16 ties are contested as single elimination matches. The eight winners progress to the second group stage.
The draw took place at press centre of the host stadium immediately following the conclusion of the final match of the first group stage.[16]
For the purpose of the draw, the 16 teams were split into four pots of four. The five group winners and three best second placed teams were divided between Pots 1 and 2, based on their BSWW World Ranking, with the highest ranked four placed in Pot 1 and the lowest ranked four in Pot 2. The two worst second placed teams, five third placed and best fourth placed nation were placed in Pots 3 and 4, also divided between pots in the same fashion.[6]
Teams from Pot 1 were drawn against teams from Pot 4, and Pot 2 nations face those from Pot 3. The drawing of ties alternated as such.[6]
The calculation of best and worst second placed teams was reformulated upon Ukraine's withdrawal, considering the occupants of Group D played just two matches.
The composition of the four pots is shown below.[16]
| width=120 | Pot 1 | width=120 | Pot 2 | width=120 | Pot 3 | width=120 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (2) (3) (6) (7) | (9) (24) (32) (36) | (29) (33) (35) (40) | (51) (54) (59) (91) |
| Group 1 | ||
| Group 2 |
The eight teams are split into two groups of four: the four winners of ties 3–6 of the round of 16 draw enter Group 1, whilst the four winners of ties 1, 2, 7 and 8 enter Group 2.[6] [16]
The teams that finish in the top two of each group earn qualification to the World Cup; those that finish in the corresponding positions of the two groups play against one another to determine the final standings of the tournament. The teams that play in the fifth place play-off will contest the last remaining spot at the World Cup.[1]
|
|
Winner qualifies for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[17]
| width=300 | Most valuable player |
|---|---|
| Yuri Krasheninnikov | |
| Top scorer | |
 Gabriele Gori (14 goals) | |
| Best goalkeeper | |
| Maxim Chuzhkov |
Players who scored at least 3 goals are listed
| Qualified for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup |
| Rank | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | ||
| 5 | ||
| 6 | ||
| 7 | ||
| 8 | ||
| align=center rowspan=8 | 9–16 | |
| align=center rowspan=3 | 17–19 | |
| – |
The following five teams from UEFA qualify for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
| Team | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup1 only FIFA era (since 2005) |
|---|---|---|---|
| [18] | 0 (debut) | ||
| [19] | 7 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017) | ||
| 6 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) | |||
| 4 (2009, 2011, 2015, 2017) | |||
| [20] | 8 (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.