ERIC CANTONA “WINNING THE WORLD CUP WAS ONE OF THE BEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE”
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QUIQUE SETIEN
5 TO WATCH
“BEACH SOCCER MAKES YOU A BETTER FOOTBALLER”
WATCH OUT FOR THESE PLAYERS IN 2020
SEASON 2020 PREVIEW ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS YEAR’S EUROPEAN COMPETITIONS
04 - CONTENTS
IN THIS ISSUE...
26 REVIEW: MUNDIALITO DE CLUBES
The beach soccer year kicked off with a stunning event in Moscow, which gave us unforgettable memories and extends SC Braga’s unbeatable form. Fancy jogging your memory on everything that went on in the Megasport Arena back in February?
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INTERVIEW: QUIQUE SETIEN The former FC Barcelona coach was one of the players that formed part of the Spanish National Beach Soccer Team in the early years of the sport, in the mid and late 1990s, and understands very well what beach soccer can do for professional footballers. Find out about his time on the beach, his coaching in Russia and other interesting anecdotes in the conversation he had with his good friend Ramiro Amarelle.
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5 TO WATCH IN 2020 Commentator, Mark Pendergast, and AIS Playas de San Javier coach, Joaquín Castaño, pick five men and women to watch in beach soccer this year.
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PUMA BALL The new ball for the 2020 and 2021 seasons has made a great impact. Find out more about the amazing FINAL.
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BSWW AMBASSADORS
INTERVIEW: CANTONA In his conversation with Madjer, the French legend recalls some of the most important moments in his career, and explains why beach soccer made him so happy after many years of elite football.
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Meet the Beach Soccer Worldwide Ambassadors and Influencers for the 2020 season!
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BSWW & UNAOC TEAM UP Beach soccer becomes the first sport to join the “One Humanity” campaign.
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BEACH SOCCER HEROES
PREVIEW: 2020 SEASON
Read all about what the European season will look like after so many weeks of lockdown: the dates, the venues, the competition format, etc..
INTERVIEW: AGOSTINI
In a conversation with Dario Ramacciotti, the “Condor” explains how he landed in beach soccer after twenty years of scoring goals in the best teams of Italy’s Serie A.
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The beach soccer family have made us proud over the Covid-19 pandemic. Read about our heroes.
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FOOTBALL VS BEACH SOCCER What are the main differences between football and beach soccer?
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BRIGHT BELGIAN FUTURE
JOAN CUSCÓ, UNAOC’S ADVISOR
MOLDOVA STADIUM
The BSWW president was appointed Advisor For Sport The La Izvor Park in Chisinau will host a top-class for UNAOC’s One Humanity campaign by UNAOC’s High permanent beach soccer arena, ready to be inaugurated Representative, Miguel Ángel Moratinos. with an international beach soccer competition.
Find out all about how Belgium has embraced beach soccer with an ambitious project and big plans for the future.
06 - KICKING OFF
KICKING OFF Dear friends, What a time we have been living through over these past months… Nobody is ready for something like this, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will last for an uncertain period of time. But the beach soccer family has again stuck together, because together we are stronger. We have done what we were expected to do, and we have done it as one. During these hectic weeks, we have scrupulously followed the recommendations and directives of the different international organisations and national governments, understanding that the preservation of human health is, without a doubt, the main priority. We have been forced to postpone some competitions we were all looking forward to, and the activity of some players, teams and federations has also been significantly impacted. And we are proud to have seen that you all have done the same, with exemplary behaviour. We want to thank you for your patience, your responsibility and your understanding in such anomalous conditions. We have seen you train hard at home, making the most of the lockdown to be as prepared, both physically and mentally, as possible for when the competition returns. From our side, we have also tried to keep you as connected and in the loop as possible, with different content, such as the Beach Soccer Talks and many other initiatives, to showcase once again that we are all beach soccer, and we are all essential parts of the community; of the family. We have also taken the time to enter into deep conversations and discussions with the main beach soccer stakeholders, with an objective of finding short and mid-term solutions to the difficulties we are being faced with, as well as to set out discussions that will help us anticipate future problems in a much more effective manner. Now it is the time to go back to where we all belong: the sand. And to do so, we have to maintain the responsibility, consciousness and resiliance that we have all shown during this challenging time. Because it is to the benefit of all us and this is how we will always operate. Let’s go for it! Let’s play!
Editorial Director Iñaki Uribarri Editor-in-Chief Matthew Mills Design Director Laura Cuscó Design Manager Adrian Velado Photographers Manuel Queimadelos José Manuel Álvarez Dmitry Golubovich DonProd Sponsorship Pol Calvet Edited by Beach Soccer Worldwide, SL President Joan Cuscó
Joan Cuscó BSWW President
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BEACH SOCCER DREAMLAND Moscow’s Megasport Arena, the amazing venue of the Mundialito de Clubes.
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OOPS, THAT DIDN’T GO WELL... That was a bicycle kick to forget for Tokyo Verdy’s Catarino.
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BEST VIEW IN THE HOUSE This is what the action looks like from behind one of the goals in the Megasport Arena.
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STRIKE A POSE! Spartak Moscow’s Aleksey Makarov with the perfect scissor kick position.
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UPSIDE DOWN If beach soccer existed in the Matrix then it would look like this.
18 - INTERVIEW
“WINNING THE WORLD CUP WAS ONE OF THE BEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE” ERIC CANTONA
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ric Cantona recalls the amazing victory of France over Portugal in a chat with Madjer, in which they talk about why beach soccer is such a unique sport On 15th May, 15 years ago, Eric Cantona led France to a historical triumph against Portugal, claiming the first ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. A decade and a half later, he catches up with one of his rivals that day, and very good friend, Madjer, to reminisce about that amazing moment and also to discuss beach soccer in general, their first steps in the sport and what the future holds... MADJER: Between players and people from beach soccer always talk about the important role players like you played in the sport. If it wasn’t for you Hernani, Junior and so many ex-players the sport [wouldn’t have] grown up. It’s not because of Madjer or because of Amarelle, it because of you. You gave the name to the sport. What do you have to say about that? CANTONA:For me, as I told you, I arrived and I played my first game in…1997 I think, in Monaco. As soon as I retired from football I started to play beach soccer. And I love this game, I love this game. And I tried my best to develop this game. But develop it just because I loved it. At this time, the level of the game was good. But nothing compared to now. It started to change in the early 2000s, with young players not coming from professional football. They were footballers, from 11-aside but they were very passionate about the game. And us, in 2000 in France we started to work a lot and train a lot but the players weren’t even paid. They just came because they were passionate about the game. And they trained three times a week and we started to improve. And… year after year the level started to grow because of these young players. - Yeah, it’s true. - Not because of us. Us, we just helped the sport to be known because we could have interviews all around the world. But the real sport, and the real spectacular side of the sport, you made it! Not us. It’s true. Just before this chat, I was speaking with my children. I said I have an interview to do with the best player of beach soccer – ever! You are, you know. I don’t know if you know but you have a lot of humility and you will not say. But I can say it. - Thank you, thank you. Now you know, normally the top players they like to listen to other people saying “oh you are a great player”, something like that. But for it to get inside of us it’s quite difficult because, like now, I’ve played with a lot of great players, so for me there are a lot of best players ever in beach soccer. Like Amarelle, so many players. But coming from you it’s…thank you. Thank you, King!
- Yeah, but I really feel it. And Portugal! Portugal was important for the sport. I think, the most important thing was…Brazil was a great team at the end of the 90s when I started to play. It was the beginning of beach soccer. Brazil, France, Portugal, Spain…and a bit of Italy. And you, Portugal, improved every year. Now I see the team of Braga, they have great players. Spain, also they improve every time, Brazil…and then after you had Russia and other nations played great beach soccer.But France we started to go down, you know? And we were European champions in 2004 and then we won the first FIFA World Championship in Brazil against you. Remember the game? What a game?! We were 3-0 up, 20 seconds to go and then you scored, well Portugal scored, and then you scored in the last second of the game. Then extra time, no goals, and we won on the penalty shootout. Wonderful game! - And Alan missed a penalty. - Yeah, Alan missed a penalty and Ottavy scored the penalty for us. And then we played the two semi-finals, one quarter-final and since then we lost the discipline. Why did we win the European champions and the World Cup and we play two semi-finals? Because we were working hard! And then we started to think that it was easy – no, it’s not an easy game. It’s a very hard sport. People think because of the sun and the sand and everything… But when you start to run on the sand and you start to play football on the sand it’s very difficult. So we have to be very professional. And it’s very hard because the money is not like football, you know? It’s a bit difficult. But like in every sport if you have the discipline and you work hard, you start to have good results. If you don’t, forget it. Now France is a team that is maybe not even in the best 20 in the world. Which is a shame. - So do you think that they achieved the top, and after that they relaxed? - We achieved the top, we won the first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2005 and then we played two semi-finals and one quarterfinal. And then we started to go down. Yeah. Because we didn’t work hard enough. It’s not just to say “Oh we have to doing one training for two months in the summer” – no, no. When we won the European championships and the World Cup, we started the training in February. In France you know, not in Brazil. In France in the winter, even if it’s in the south of France, it’s a bit cold. But we had the socks and everything and sometimes it was raining. - Like here! - Yeah! And we were training three times a week. And playing a game sometimes at a weekend and we improved a lot! We improved technically. And some players who were also playing football. They had two or three training sessions with football, three with beach soccer and they have the game at the weekend, so they worked
Cantona lead France to winning the first ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2005
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“As soon as I retired from football I started playing beach soccer. I love this game”
very, very hard. They were very fit and because of beach soccer they improved a lot technically. Even tactically, even though the size of the pitch is not the same, their vision and everything. Because in beach soccer you touch the ball very often, you have to play in the air. So they improved a lot. They became better than they were. Also in football. - I have an opinion about that: It happened because they had you, and they have some ex-players that they have the discipline, you know? Like here in Portugal, we had Hernani and Nunes and Ze Miguel and other ex-players… For us they were like the stars and we were looking at them like we need to follow them because they know everything about football. So they can teach us a lot about discipline, that is very important. They need to teach us and… I grew up a lot with them. You know Hernani. You and Hernani were fighters. - Yeah, he was a fighter. - He taught us that, “if you want to win something, you have to train, you have to run, you have to do the things, even the things that I do. Because I am older than you guys and if I can run 10km and come back, you have to run 20 and come back” - Yeah. But the difference between you, Portugal, and France is that we taught them and then the new generations, didn’t teach the other ones. Of course, they train a bit now, but it is not like it was before… You were listening to Hernani and to Nunes and to the other ones, but when they retired, you became the leader, and you are still the leader in Portugal. That generation had players like François, Mendy, Samoun. They were very good, but the transition to new generations was not good after that. You need to learn from the other ones, but as soon as you learn, it’s your role! It’s your time to teach the other ones, the youngest ones. - Yes, you have to keep the discipline and you have to keep your mind focused otherwise… So that’s why it’s important that the new generations keep up the good work that was done before. - Of course, of course. But it’s never too late. - No, it’s never too late. You think France can come back to be on top? - In France we have good players. In my time when I was the manager of the team, they were good, they had great potential, we helped them to become even better. But there are still great players in France, who have great potential. But potential is not enough. You have to work hard. But of course, they can come back. I hope so. - Everybody does. Because it’s important for the sport that you have the top national teams fighting every time and more and more good teams coming back to the top. - Yeah and it’s great sometimes to have a nation like Russia. Sometimes when I say that Russia were the world champions, people are very surprised. It’s a game that was created on the sand but you can play anywhere. Do you remember we did tournaments in Tignes? - Yeah! Freezing! - Yes, it was. We can play anywhere, we can bring the sand everywhere. It’s great also to have nations who are not on the coast, and who can become one of the best in the world. Or Switzerland! Switzerland, yes. Ukraine, is also a great example. They are growing. Yes. And Braga…Braga is not on the coast, is it? - No it’s not, they are close to the coast. Not so close, but they are close. They have good facilities close to the stadium and they are doing a great job. They took the sand to a facility and now they have a good facility there. - So they took the sand… That’s a good example also. It’s great.
22 - INTERVIEW - This comes on to the next question: what do you think that beach soccer needs more to grow? - Beach Soccer is very demanding physically and technically, because of the sand. In football, even if you don’t play so well, you can play in the street… But beach soccer is so difficult. If you don’t have a minimum of technique, it’s difficult to enjoy it. That’s why very young players struggle. This is why it is very important to work with very young players. Do you remember in Brazil? We were walking in Copacabana and a lot of players were playing beach soccer on the sand… In the beginning, it is difficult, but if you work a bit hard you start to enjoy it, and then you can work even more.So that’s why it’s important to work with very, very young players because it’s easier for them to learn. Like in skiing, you know? They have better balance than grown adults. So if you start very, very, very, very young it’s…it’s good for the sport. Because you will have good players, because many people play football, but beach soccer is different. It is another sport. - But you know, every time we bring some kids or some new players to play beach soccer they love it, but they don’t know how difficult it is. They don’t know. They don’t realise. That’s why it’s important to grow up, and in your opinion, to grow we need to start from young players and start to bring players only for the sport. Not the players that do football and futsal. - Yeah exactly. It’s a sport in itself. You can play tennis and play football. Or you can play tennis and play guitar. You can play football and play beach soccer but if you are in beach soccer you are in beach soccer. And then you go and train in football, if you want. But beach soccer a sport in iself, it’s not something you do during the weekend. No, it’s a real sport. You can practise different sports but you have to take beach soccer as a sport, with all you need to become better and better every time. Training, work hard, learn from the other ones, the best ones and everything… - Do you think that it will be important in Europe to create indoor facilities? - Yeah! It can come for regions. Depending on the region and depending on the countries. I think the Russian team, they train a lot inside. They play futsal also. So in Rio de Janeiro you don’t need to work inside. You know, indoor. But in some countries or
north of Portugal like Braga or some cities in the north of France, or the centre of France. The east or the west…We need to find a solution, we need to have facilities to help the players who want to play beach soccer. Because there are a lot of young kids who want to play beach soccer. - Yeah, but they don’t know where… - They organise a tour in France, you know? For the really Young players. - I remember when we played the first European league in Marseille, I remember there was like a kids’ festival outside, Joel Cantona was organising everything. - Yeah! But now they work with everything…with the federation, you know? They do a tour during two months in the summer. They go to different cities to help the young players, to discover this game to play this game to give them advice and everything. It’s very important to work on the base, like when you build a house, you build the base first and then you build the wall and the roof at the end. - In this sport it was like the opposite. We began with the rooftop, the old players, and from there we began going down… (BOTH LAUGH) - Exactly, so we have to help the people who are in charge of the sport to realise that we have to work from the base with the kids like we said before in Brazil, every day you see kids training on the beach. It’s why there are so many great players. And maybe some of them will play football afterwards, because it helps them. Playing on the sand you improve your technique. You improve in keeping the ball in the air, but also you improve running with the ball on the sand. With all the rebounds you go right, you go left, and you have to think and be very fast. There are many great Brazilian football players who started to play on the sand. - Yeah, for many years… They play on the sand and afterwards they go to play football. -I remember in Copacabana, sometimes you had games, eleven against eleven – on the beach! Incredible. It’s a great sport, a wonderful sport.
“The first generation fought a lot but we were friends. We all have great memories�
24 - INTERVIEW - Now I have a question. And it goes against me… How was your feeling after winning the first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup ever, after a great career in soccer? - It was one of my best moments. As a man. Not only as a sportsman. It was good because as I told you before, we worked for four or five years very, very hard to achieve that. And to be in the professional system for so many years is great but it’s like when you start again from zero. And working with players who never knew the professional system. They were amateurs, so you had to teach them everything. You see them improve, month after month, and start achieving things. It was great for me as a coach. And so it was amazing for me, to see all these players winning something after years of hard work. - After we beat Brazil in the semi-finals…Who did you beat? - Spain. And in the quarter-finals it was Argentina - Do you think that our problem was to beat Brazil? Because here in Portugal they talked a lot about that – “They beat Brazil and they thought that they will beat France”. And everybody in Brazil was talking about it like, “no, Portugal will win and…” and I think for the players, it was worse. - Maybe, but in 2004 we won against you in the European championship final, too. So you knew that we could beat you. You won more often against us, but we started to improve and in 2004 we won the Euro Beach Soccer League against you. And that was already a small surprise. But of course, it was in Brazil and Brazil was the favourite, like always. And for you to beat Brazil it was like you won the World Cup, and we knew that also. We knew that you would react like this. And we took advantage of that. - So you prepared yourselves, knowing that our mentality could be like… - We knew that you would not be at your best for the beginning of the game. The time to realise that you have to react. And it’s why after the first period. We were 3-0 up. - After the first period, yes. Because you started really strong. - Yeah we started really strong, because, also, you started very slow (both laugh). Because you were like, “we already won it!” Against Brazil it would have been more difficult for us. Yeah…but maybe we could have won it also. We had a great team at that time, we played very well… - I remember, Mendy scored three goals! The first one with a header after a throw in, I will never forget that… Also Eduard. You had a very strong team. From outside, we thought “they are like a wall”. - We were very strong defensively at this time. And offensively we were very strong, too. Some of the tactics we used were very, very good and the players were very compatible with these kinds of tactics. And they enjoyed it. Very much. - Do you think your son Martin can keep the beach soccer passion of the family? - Absolutely! He’s in love with football and beach soccer. He’s in love with both games. He has great discipline. After school, he goes to train, he takes the bus and everything. He loves this game. He loves football and beach soccer. - So he will be your substitute. - You know, these kids, all the cousins, they all love football. They really love it. Even my daughter, the oldest one, Josephine. They always came to the events in Marseille. She even came to Brazil. But you need to have discipline, also. I think Martin can achieve something. Well, I hope. Especially because he’s a great goalkeeper, and he plays very well with his feet, which is very important nowadays both for football and beach soccer. also now the goalkeeper needs to be good and fit, not only in beach soccer, even in football. And even more in beach soccer. He’s very good,
very comfortable with the ball. - He’s really complete. And he’s young! - And he’s young, yeah. But he’s very mature for his age. - Now I have a game to do with you. I will give you five names. And in one word you will describe these people. Hernani. - Hernani? The Boss. - Olmeta. - The Craziest. (both laugh) - You remember in Marseille? When he crashed against that… - Yeah, crazy. But he also did a lot to help beach soccer. - Yes, it’s true… And after he went to that reality show… Next one: Junior. - The First One. - Salinas. - The Tower. - Amarelle. - The Showman - You know that during all these years… beach soccer has this great capacity. It keeps the players together. We stay friends forever… - Yes, especially that generation in the beginning of the game… I don’t know now, because I am not that involved now, but I remember when we were at the beginning of the game… Even the rivalry, you know that sometimes we fought, because everybody wanted to win and sometimes we lost control, but I think we were all great friends. And as you say, we all have great memories of that time. Because it was the first steps of this game… It was a very special moment. I love that moment and all the people I met at that time. - Yes, it really was an amazing time. Talking about fights, me, Hernani, Nunes… all the old ones, we always remember that the first time beach soccer was the first story on the news on TV it was after that big fight we had in Figueira da Foz. (Both laugh) - But it was also a great tournament! The Mundialito… - It was, indeed. We keep so many good memories… I really want to thank you and wish you the best in these terrible conditions that we have to live these days… Hopefully we learn from this, and become more human. - Agree. It is a terrible moment, but it is also a great opportunity for humanity to create a better world. We have realized what is the most important thing, what is the essential. Hopefully we take this opportunity. I am optimistic: when something bad happens, you can get another road to get to a better place. - Yes, I hope it too. Do you think this moment will change sport? - I think that any change will be for the better. Sports, and art, are very important. Sports give people hope, they give them motivation. For example, even homeless people have their own World Cup, so they have a reason to dream, to train. And we have to use sports for that. Of course professional top class sports are important, but we need to use sport for social things, too. Sport can help a lot of people in many situations. - King, thank you very much. I hope this goes away quickly and we can meet in Lisbon for a beer or something. I wish you the best. Take care you and your family! - You too. All the best to all of you!
26 - QUARTERLY REVIEW
MUNDIALITO DE CLUBES MOSCOW 2020
BRAGA BOSS ANOTHER MOSCOW MUNDIALITO D
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he Portuguese powerhouse club lifted the trophy once more despite suffering their first ever defeat in the competition, thus confirming they are at the peak of their form. In a beach soccer year unlike any other in the history of the sport, we managed to hold one incredible event before the season was cruelly cut short by the tragic events that affected each and every one of us. That event was, of course, the 2020 Mundialito de Clubes in Moscow: the only tournament in a “normal” 2020, the seventh edition of the event enjoyed its second year in the Russian capital, with an epic indoor stadium, the Megasport Sports Palace, and some new teams making their Mundialito appearances.
Japanese giants Tokyo Verdy, spearheaded by the 2019 FIFA Golden Ball holder Ozu, were one of the debuting teams, alongside Swiss champions Grasshopper Club Zurich and hosts of the 2019 World Winners Cup and Turkish champions, Alanya BS. The Japanese club, bolstered by Brazilian firepower including the 2017 Best Player Mauricinho, caused upset on the first day by edging Spanish champions Levante, while the first games for the other new-comers didn’t go quite so well, as each was welcomed to the competition by the two Muscovite hosts clubs with heavy defeats. In the other game on day one, the Euro Winners champions and winners of the 2019 Mundialito de Clubes SC Braga beat the World
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SC Braga won a second consectutive Mundialito de Clubes title in Moscow
Winners kings, CR Flamengo, by six goals to four. The Brazilians also lost narrowly in their second match after an extra time winner helped Spartak take their point tally to five, and it was another clinical win for the reigning champions Braga against Grasshopper Zurich. Lokomotiv also took a second win, this time against Levante, while Tokyo Verdy were defeated by Alanya BS, meaning that the clubs went into Day 3 tied on points. It was the third day of action which would see Braga experience their first defeat in the competition, at the hands of their Spartak hosts, who they would eventually meet again in the final. Flamengo and Levante finally registered their first wins against
Grasshopper Zurich and Alanya BS, but the Japanese shocked the locals by defeating Lokomotiv six goals to three, opening Group A right up, and meaning that both sides joined Spartak Moscow and SC Braga in the final four. Portugal met Japan in the first semi-final, where a brilliant Braga put seven past the Tokyo first-timers to make the final with relative ease. However, it was not such plain sailing in the Moscow derby, which remained goalless until a late flurry saw the final score settled at 3-1 in favour of Spartak. The Final The final showdown was set, as Spartak Moscow guaranteed their best ever finish in the tournament and SC Braga were on the brink
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Spartak had already beaten Braga in the group stage but fell in the final
of winning back-to-back Mundialito de Clubes titles, an achievement that no side had accomplished before. The locals had already beaten the defending champions once in this campaign, handing Braga their first ever loss in the Mundialito de Clubes, but both sides had already made the semi-finals going into that match, and the steaks were much higher this time around… It was the reigning champions who drew first blood as Jordan, currently the world’s best player, pounded the opener in off the crossbar. Spartak threatened to equalise but the next goal went to Braga too, and it came all the way from keeper Rafa Padilha. Bruno Xavier then flew in at the far post to poke in a third just before the first break and Spartak were being left behind. A cheeky Be Martins chip in the next period made things worse for the local club but the fans in the Megasports Palace did well to keep cheering their side on. In the dying minutes of the second period, Iranian star Ahmadzadeh gave Spartak Moscow some hope with a calm finish through the keeper’s legs, but no sooner had the final period restarted when Andre hit a fifth for Braga. Spartak rattled the bar twice within seconds but could not find another goal until Zemskov powered in a header, only to see it cancelled out by a spinning shot from Leo Martins to make it 6-2, and Braga were too far ahead to be caught. Pavlenko put away a third for Spartak, but final strikes from Filipe and Jordan, put the final to bed and Os Guerreiros do Minho celebrated a second title in as many years, while Spartak registered a new record finish in the competition for the club as runners-up. Their Muscovite neighbours, Lokomotiv, took third with a decisive win over Tokyo Verdy, while Levante finished in fifth thanks to an extra time winner from Edu Suarez, whose 10 goals saw him claim the Top Scorer trophy. Two debutants, Grasshopper CZ and Alanya Belediyespor, fought over seventh, and the Turkish side came out on top thanks to a Dejan Stankovic masterclass. The MVP award went to Braga’s Filipe and the champions also had the Best Goalkeeper in Rafa Padilha. Well-rehearsed in their trophy lift and award ceremony, the Braga players celebrated with their coaching staff and posed for pictures, the Mundialito de Clubes safe in their hands for one more year at least.
Can they be dethroned in 2021...?
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“BEACH SOCCER MAKES YOU A BETTER FOOTBALLER” QUIQUE SETIÉN (FORMER FC BARCELONA COACH)
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C Barcelona former coach Quique Setién was for many years a top class beach soccer player. And, before his career as elevena-side coach rocketed, he also coached Leonov, Bukhlitskiy or Shkarin, among others, as Russian National coach. During the lockdown, he sat for a long chat with his great friend Ramiro Amarelle, in which they talk about Setién’s first steps in professional football, his experiences in beach soccer and anecdotes with other elite footballers (Salinas, Míchel, Butragueño, Cantona, Junior...). Here’s what they talked about: AMARELLE: How are you? How’s the family doing during these difficult days? SETIÉN: All fine for now. We’re dealing with the situation well. The close family members, those that are in Santander and those here in Barcelona are well. My son Laro lives very close to me now. He lives in an apartment with his girlfriend as he’s playing for Sant Andreu (Barcelona) now. But we’re dealing well with the lockdown. Although we’re looking forward to going back to the normal life. - I know you love gardening, walking, jogging, exploring… How do you feel in this lockdown and spending so much time indoors? Despite the social context. You and Rosa love the sun and outdoor activities. How does it feel for you personally? - I deal with it, I adapt easily. And the current situation is more important than anything else now. There are millions of people in the same situation but with less resources and facilities than we have, such as internet or a terrace where I can have some sunshine, enough space to do some exercise. There are cases of six or eight people living together in just 50sqm. If you think of that, you put things into perspective. - It makes you change your perspective? - Obviously. This is what we have to live with. But I have to admit that sometimes I long for the breeze of the sea, for the grass… If I had been in Santander I would have had a big garden and space enough to do some jogging and live differently than I am living here in Barcelona. But this is how it is. - Do you also have time for chess? - Yeah, from time to time. It’s been four or five days since I last played chess because I’ve been going through a terrible slump in form. So I didn’t even want to play, I quit for a few days because I got frustrated. I play quick games online on those platforms with thousands of people. One day you’re brilliant and you win a lot of points, but the next day you are slow… - Your form drops... - Exactly, then I disconnect for four or five days and focus on other things.
- Since I started playing chess with you, I learnt that chess and football shared quite a few similarities. The understanding of the game and other assets that could be also applied to football, mentally for example. Was that your feeling from the start or did you just start playing chess as a hobby and you only realised later on? - Well, you realise with time, not immediately. I’ve been playing chess for many years now. It can have a bigger influence on you, especially at the beginning, when you want to learn and improve. Not like now that I play quick games. At the beginning you study the strategies, you read books, you become more reflective because you have to control your impulses. For very quick games, where you have to think and react very quickly, I learnt from friends who had a lot of expertise on those type of games and advised me on how to control many aspects of the game. Not only the strategy, but many other aspects that become a fundamental part of your personality. If, like me, you are someone that has always had an eye for goal and never cared about the defence, in chess that works equally and when you do not protect yourself they can hit hard on you and you will not see it coming... So this helps a lot mentally, helps you see different ways of approaching the same situation. It is also true that when you look at a chess board, it’s very similar to a football pitch and there are also two teams that face each other. There are many similarities that apply to both games. Many people say that in chess, if you control the centre of the board, you have a better chance of controlling the game, and it’s the same in football. If you control the midfield and the team is well-balanced and connected, you have an advantage against the opponent which might help you overcome them, being better in attack and so on. So those are some things that help you improve, also on your personality. I have a friend that used to say that you should hide your hands under the table during a chess game, even though you know what move your opponent is going to make, because you anticipate that the move will go on that given pawn or bishop or whatever, even if you already know what movement you’ll make, give yourself some time to reflect on whether what you are planning to do is the right thing. This is why you keep your hands under the table, to avoid that initial impulse… - Self-control... - Exactly… And I think that made me a lot more reflective, and having a lot more capacity to analyse everything, independently that things might seem clear… I always give second thoughts to everything, never answer quickly to something if I have some doubt… I need my time, leave me some time to think and tow answer - That’s good… Chess is very linked to the thinking process. It reminds me of what you always told me, well not me,
“All my memories of beach soccer are extraordinary”
32 - INTERVIEW
“Chess helps you to see different ways of approaching the same situation”
generally, of your football career, when you became a football player. You were, always a football fanatic, but a late comer to the professional level in comparison to today’s game. You arrived in football at 18 , after a working experience off the field. But tell us, I remember it more or less but I prefer you to tell us about it. In detail. - Well, before going over that stage in my life, we have to look into the past. I was one of three children in my family. We had my dad and my sister but when I was 10 my mum passed away. My dad had to keep working, we were the three little kids, and I was, more or less, doing well, in almost every aspect but there was a stage in which I stopped studying and I was a little more unruly. I didn’t want to keep studying, it took a lot effort from my dad to make me keep studying...
you things and everyone wants to give you advice and you have to unravel it all and do everything they say. Over time, you realize where you’re better off and where you perform best.
In the end, I took a job at 13-14 years old and I practiced football on the side, always keeping an eye on football. That chapter lasted four years, before signing my first contract as a professional football player, maybe the experiences in the past helped me to strengthen my spirit and my mental resilience, and many other things… It made me tough. Although the job wasn’t that hard, it required me to be disciplined.
- Haha! Of course. - I just had to be there. They made me just stay there, and I never felt comfortable in that position. Until a coach arrived and he put another player in front of me and I played more as an attacking midfielder and I regained some freedom of play that I had had previously. From there I started playing to my full potential. But it took me many years, actually until I started watching Cruyff’s Barça, I didn’t pay attention to the tactics nor to what we were doing. I just went to the pitch to play. And that’s it.
- The intrinsic values that the job brought you, they play a part too. - You have to get up early in the morning. You have to earn money. You come home and you hand over all the money, because we really needed it. Because my dad worked in a pharmacy for 50 years and with the income that he had it was tight to provide for three children on his own. We had the support of our aunts and other members of the family. But those circumstances, from getting up very early to go to work, going back home for lunch, going back to work, finish at 7pm, catching the bus to go practice, arriving home at 10pm, doing the laundry, preparing dinner, going to bed. This was an everyday routine. It makes you more mature because it was very demanding mentally above all. This probably pays off in the future when you encounter hard moments in life. You know, there are always tough times , although you are a professional footballer, you always have difficult moments. - Totally. This phase that you were telling me about, when we talked about these topics, they are very relevant and have an effect on your personality, shaping your character. They transmitted a lot of things to me… - This is the never-ending dispute I’ve had with my son. You talk to the people of your age. I remember arriving home from playing on Sundays, and we played on sand fields and I even bathed in my football shirt, full of mud and everything, to clean it. I remember there was pitch where the ground was full of rusty iron and who knows what and cleaning it was terrible. And at 12, 13 or 14 years old I was wearing the kits in the bath to have them clean for training the next day. Because, of course, we didn’t have any spares. And this is what I say this to my son, and he laughs… And when I see him complain about something I just think…”how can it be possible?”... Like, “dude…listen”… - After having been a player, when did you start think about other things? When did the aspects of football from behind the scenes start to interest you? - Well… in the beginning. No, not at all. I was never an on-field coach. And further more I was always a person who payed close attention to the instructions I received from my coaches. Mainly at the start of my career, of course. You arrive in a dressing room of first division players at 18 years old hoping to prove yourself not just to the coach but to the veteran players, and everyone tells
For example, when I was younger, despite the fact that my position was forward as a number nine, I had never played as a forward. Nobody told me what to do on the field, until I reached the professional level. I knew that I could play up and down the pitch, pass the ball, receive the ball. I was very good at advancing into dangerous positions and scoring goals from the midfield. When I reached the first team at Racing Santander, they played me as a number nine, and the two or three months that I played in the youth team at Racing I played as a number nine. And there, I didn’t touch the ball much at all.
- Was Cruyff’s era what triggered your interest as a future coach? - Not really. I never thought about coaching. That’s the reality. I got all the degrees and coaching courses but I never thought about being a coach because what I loved was playing and at that time, watching Cruyff and that Barcelona team, when they started playing and you’re on the field and you think, “wow. What I was doing up until now? This is the football I like, because this is having the ball.” It’s something that is… - No but you enjoyed it. The other style was almost against your nature. Just occupying a spot on the field and not touching the ball. - Of course. For most of the seasons at Racing Santander, the coaches that we had were very defensive. Everyone knew that Racing was a team trying to avoid relegation. We just stayed back. Holding the defensive line. You know, Maguregui and other coaches we had at the time, they were extremely defensive coaches. Obviously, I got really bored with it. When I saw how football was played here (Barcelona), it was very different to running after the ball for 80 minutes and you didn’t see the ball. This is when you start appreciating tactics. Asking why things happen. - You start to question things... -Yeah. You start to analyse everything, and see things and understand why they happen. And from there you start to realise what you like and you begin to form an idea in your head. After that, I would not just accept anything… In the end, we had many coaches but I was not an easy footballer to manage. There was a big conflict between how I liked to play and how my coaches liked to play. I always tried to convince them. Some paid attention to what I said and some others told me to go get lost… - Like everything in life. But of course, I remember. I remember I had this image of you when I was about 18, of Setién, of Quique, the focal point, the presser, the number 10 from Racing who pushed high from the midfield and who scored goals. This was the impression - or the impression that I had - of you as a player at the time. But of course now people associate Quique with the coach. But wow, how many years did you play in football? How many games did you play? First starting with Racing and then all of the teams.
34 - INTERVIEW - I believe that as a professional, from back when I started at Racing I must have played, counting all the competitions, 550 matches. Something like that. I played 19 years and it maybe could have been more, but I spent practically two entire years of my career out with injuries. There was one full season that I didn’t play because of a broken tibia and fibula. Also, the previous season I had had a knee injury after I was kicked in Alicante. I was operated on for that injury in San Sebastian. I didn’t play for four months that season in addition to the following season when I broke my tibia and fibula. So, I could have played more than 550 games… but I am satisfied overall, because those were the only injuries in 19 years of my professional career. - I always noticed that you treated players players in their later professional stages, in a special way. I’ve always had the feeling that you respect them, you respect the professional player because of how misunderstood you felt. - More than the older players, I always had a lot of respect for the players who are really honest with their profession and with themselves. Not only with older people.Not because of their age. - Because of their values. - Yes, it is true that I have had older players who wanted to prolong their career based on hard work and effort, not simply because of their names, but really fulfilling the professional honour and pride that it requires to be involved in a group that you depend on, where everything you do has an influence in some way or another on the rest of the group. Just like what the rest of the group does has an influence on you. To those players who have always wanted to lengthen their career based on dedication, commitment… of course I respect them. But there are also young people who arrive with enthusiasm, with a lot of desire. It really bothers me when I encounter players who don’t really live with the same intensity and commitment for football as I have. - It is a feeling of commitment and responsibility. - Yes, of course, because you are not playing tennis, you are playing football, and everything you do has an impact on the group, on the objectives that the group sets, and the responsible and professional people in the group. On one hand, I have had many players who were really committed purely because of their character, and it had nothing to do with their footballing ability. For instance, I have had the players who have had a huge impact on my life, my career as a player. Teammates that shaped my personality, my character and my way of being, of course. The other day, for example, I was talking to Chus Landaburu, because he called me. When I arrived at Atletico de Madrid at the age of 26, I was not fully formed yet, in footballing terms, although I had been playing as a professional footballer in Racing for 8 years. When I landed in Atletico de Madrid, there was a period in which my life changed, and it absolutely changed my entire perspective of football. In my first period in Racing I had teammates who made me think “Ok, this might be what I have to do.” But then you realized that this was not the case. But of course, your lack of expertise leads you into that dynamic. But when you change teams (Atletico) then you suddenly encounter a different way of approaching things. That’s when you start to really thinking for yourself, and you say: “What have I been doing all these years?” I believed that what I was doing at Racing was the right thing because it seemed to work and because I saw it in the players that used to be my idols, the ones I had been watching from the stands of the Sardinero since I was 15 years old. - Your message has always been “make the most of the
time”... - But it has nothing do with that, we are talking about a time when there was not as much available information as now. We didn’t read the newspapers, unless they said good things about you. You never use to speak to footballing people. It was a totally different time. When I arrived in Madrid, the first day I started training and they started to tell me what we had to do, I thought “What the hell is this?”. I hadn’t trained like that in my eight years in Santander during a pre-season. When I played my first game for Atletico de Madrid, in A Coruña in a tournament called Teresa Herrera, I was 26 years old. When I ran onto the field after 10 days training with Angel Vilda and Luis Aragonés in the forests of Segovia, the feeling I had was “wow, I’m not getting tired!”. At the beginning of that pre-season I thought I couldn’t cope with all that training, I thought I was going to collapse after 100 meters. With the coaches I had had before I could say “coach, I’m not feeling well, I need to look after myself, I live for football, etc.”. But those training sessions were a joke in comparison to the ones with Atletico. - Compared to now. - But of course, from there I started to open my mind and I started to see things differently and your mind twists and then you keep up with it and your mentality never changes back. That’s why at the end of my career, when I retired at 32, I shouldn’t have retired. I could have continued. I have always been in shape, I never gained weight and I loved training. I could have continued. This change in my trainings and approach is what I have tried to transmit to many players. - Mindset, culture. - Some players nowadays are confused, they believe there are things that are not important. But time goes by so quickly that anything you don’t do now… If only I had had Angel Vilda during those eight years in Santander… With my physical condition… I almost consider those eight years before Angel Vilda as wasted. - Let’s speak about Santander. If that word touches me, I can’t imagine how much it touches you. Let’s not cry and get emotional. I have very fond memories of Santander. Many indeed, but two are really stand out for me and they are both kind of related to the beach. So I start taking things to my dominions… First, the futsal games we used to play in a pavilion on Thursday nights, with your beach soccer team. And secondly, the beach soccer games that you really played. - Well, in Santander, for the last 60-70 years, there has been a beach soccer league for veterans, for players over 28 years. It is held on the beach of El Sardinero and it’s a league of 16 teams. The championship is played every Sunday morning when tide goes out, so approximately every 15 days. Eight pitches are set-up on the wet sand and that’s where the championship is played. Many of my teammates from grassroots do participate nowadays. A coach we used to have as kids put together a beach soccer team, so as we were getting older we joined his “veterans beach soccer team”. - They had their own lives. - They did not want to play in the third division but they still wanted to satisfy their desire to play, so they did it on the beach. And we were also lucky that there was a group of guys which we had known for many years, so they played together. Unfortunately, I was still a professional football player at that time and I wasn’t there much but I used to go watch them and eventually played
“Despite the fact we had left professional football, we didn’t lose the competitive spirit”
36 - INTERVIEW
“I trained really hard to prepare myself for beach soccer - look at me! Not a gram of fat!”
with them. They continued playing, and when I retired at the age of 38, I joined them and combined it with my career as a professional beach soccer player. The very same year that I retired from football, I signed up to this team, and I started to play with them. I remember one game with Sañudo who had retired the year before, and straight away he came to mark me and… - Worse than football players! - Yes. And I said to him, “You got up at 8am at follow one guy all over the beach?! Will you let me live? Everything that I had had all my life in football where they man-mark you, and they hit you all the time… And now you came here to play beach soccer, to have fun…” There’s no friends… But the truth is that it was a competitive league I was playing in, and actually I still play, but some of those teammates now have bad hips, or whatever, some walk like this… New players, keep coming, young guys you don’t know but you start building a friendship with them…and I still play. Last year they gave me a trophy for being the Most Veteran Player on the beach. And I will carry on playing as long as I can… - Ok so I’ll keep calling you grandad if they’ve given you a trophy for this - Let’s see how you play when you’re my age! - We’ll see, we’ll see. Ok, so let’s talk about beach soccer. I always remember - well, one of many memories – but you saying “If I had known about beach soccer before, I would have stopped playing football earlier!” Well, what memories do you have. Tell us a bit about them. - All my memories of beach soccer are amazing. They’re extraordinary. - Santi [Soler] and Joan [Cuscó], first. We never speak about them and they were some of the first in the sport along with us. What were they like back then. I’d say that they treated you all really badly at the time, right? (laughs).
- Of course not… Look, the fact is that the way they’ve been with me in beach soccer, and I’ve said this to them many times, I have never been treated like this anywhere else…. I would be at home and the tickets would arrive to go to Brazil and they arrived by courier and they prepared everything for me and they did everything for me. I remember the first call from Joaquín Alonso, because he was the one who called me first and he said “I wonder if you’d have time to come and play beach soccer?” and I said to him, “beach soccer? What’s that?” And he said to me, “well it’s a type of football that’s a bit different. The pitch is smaller, you play on dry sand.” I said “Dry sand?” “Yeah on dry sand.” “Ok… where do they play? Where do they play the games?”He said “we’re playing in Miami.” I replied, “Uff, Miami? And who’s playing?” and he gave me a list of names like Gerardo, Pedraza… “Ok, and how long are we going to be there?” “A week” “And how much is it going to cost?” “No, no. Everything is covered and actually we’re getting paid”. So I said “yeah, count me in, then!” I had just left football, and I was just at home trying to focus my attention on what to do with my life. I already had my coaching qualifications but I didn’t really fancy coaching at that time. I wasn’t convinced at all that that was what I wanted to do… It was difficult. So anyway, we went to Miami to play and we had an amazing week. Ten friends, in a hotel right on the beach, nice and relaxed, no pressure, we played the games… We had such an amazing time… - I always say, when they ask me, that if it wasn’t for you guys, the sport wouldn’t exist. But not only that, I also don’t think I was or I am not being objective about that, but it is worth saying that when you started playing beach soccer, you had just retired from professional football! And you were so good! It sounds as not objective comment, but it is the truth… You all had so much international experience, and careers that had lasted many many years at the top of the sport, with impressive CVs. And you came to play on the beach! Wow… - Yeah just after I retired in 1996. So yes, I would be 39 or 40. And I still was in good shape. I remember to get down to the beach I had
38 - INTERVIEW to go down 100-and-something stairs and I remember that during the week that we played and so…I went up and down the stairs four or five times a day with logs on my back to build my strength and then I did sprints, and quick turns, I trained with the ball… I prepared myself to play beach soccer, to be fit for beach soccer, because I enjoyed a lot playing beach soccer. So, so much… And look at me, not a gram of fat! - Yes, exactly. You were superfit. That’s why the perception I had as a young guy, the message I received, was amazing.. I thought “these guys are super-professionals, they’re all retired and they’re all playing here, but they still look after themselves a lot. - This level of competition generated over so many years, this doesn’t change. We gave our everything in the games…. It didn’t matter we were playing under 40 degrees, on dry sand, but I remember playing matches against Brazil, against France. Against players like…. - I want to talk to you about a player from that time. I have one of a player I know you like a lot… Junior. - Junior! Wow… the games against him. What a player he was… I remember in a tournament in Santander one summer, it was one of the summer tournaments and Flamengo came, and he came. And I remember seeing him, I must have been 20 years old, and I saw him arrive and while the first match was being played they came into the stadium and he sat down on the pitch to watch the game with his back against the stands. I don’t know if it was Madrid against another team, I can’t remember exactly. But he had two little drums and he was sat there playing them and me, at 20 years old, I’d seen him play in World Cups and everything. He was a footballer and he just came in like that. And later on, our paths crossed in beach soccer and he was amazing, right? Like others who also played at that time. - And, also Eric Cantona... It’s like I was saying before, you were all – you are all – footballers on a global scale. Cantona was a spectacular footballer. A strong character, it’s true, but such a competitive player and, well… in his time in Manchester he was spectacular. - Which players out of all the ones you saw, well the ones who played with us with Spain, which ones found it most difficult and which ones adapted best. What could you see? From memory. - Well there were players who struggled quite a lot to adapt. Some who came to play with us a couple of times and didn’t come back. But I remember Julio Salinas, who buried the balls in the sand. - Yeah, but still he kept having that special ability… I always remember that Julio scored the fastest goal in beach soccer on his debut. He ran from the middle of the pitch – I will remember this all my life – and he got to the area and - I don’t know if I took a shot or it was Nico - but the ball somehow bounced back off him and he scored. I don’t know if it went in off his knee or what it was. - Exactly like he scored dozens of goals in his life! - It’s incredible. But he had such a competitive character… Well you all had. It was incredible. - And on top of that, what Julio did really well was defend the ball, letting you attack, and he did that phenomenally, always. I remember another, he came once, and it was Victor Muñoz who – wow – the thing is that he wanted to play beach soccer like he’d been playing football all his life. Running. And of course, there, in 40-degree heat, with the sand like this, maybe you can run 15 seconds more than the rest, but in the end your heart explodes! He wanted to carry on running like “let’s go!” and everyone was saying “Stop! Stop! Calm down, calm down. You need wait a bit,
you need to go easy on it…” - But it’s remarkable. It seemed remarkable to me. Like, you’d all been successful footballers, and some of them you will have known from previous experience and some not, or maybe as rivals, but in reality, the experiences that you shared together brought you all together and it was incredible. I know that it was the end of your careers, and obviously it was a different environment but the attitude of everyone in this sense was incredible. - Yes. In the end, it’s the responsibility that you have. And on top of that you’re also representing Spain. Beach soccer at that point didn’t have a professional character, and that precisely helped us a lot, not needing to be so much dedicated. - Yeah, but when you arrived at the pitch your mentalities changed, you became different people… - Well, to play and to compete, this is in your blood. You find yourself facing France or Brazil and you must win. There were some incredibly tough games… And those players and teams wanted just the same as you. I mean, there were some games against France… Portugal. We played some games against Portugal and there was such tension. - The Xaviers, Sotil,… there were great players in all teams. - ...and there were many teams, like we also did, who had younger players like you guys were, who had more physical capacity who could keep going for longer and help out and whatever… But every game had that high level of intensity and rivalry, which you never lose. When I play any kickabout it is still the same. - I remember the scratches and the elbows; I learnt a lot from this. Using your arms and using your body was…and the competitive spirit of course. It was incredible, everyone was. - And the training sessions we had with Joaquin, the fights I had with Joaquín… - Well all of the team was like this. And more or less all of you were known for that competitive nature. Always battling.... When you’re training and playing matches, friends do not exist, it’s like I don’t know you! Like, I’ll pass to you because you are wearing the same shirt as me, otherwise… The only one who was a bit different was Gordillo, he only wanted to enjoy - Yeah well, but when he was on the pitch… - He wanted to win, he wanted to win. It was incredible. - The other day, two or three days ago, I was speaking to Míchel, because Joan [Cuscó] had sent me some photos of us in Monaco. So I sent them to him and we were speaking for a while, actually he’s in Mexico right now, and he was saying that he has amazing memories from beach soccer – amazing. - Actually, when I made my debut in beach soccer, I came onto the pitch substituting Míchel. And, apart from Gordillo and Míchel, I had never seen nobody bend the ball… Nobody except those two. It’s incredible like, two different types of football, and they came to play on the beach which is so tough, it’s not easy at all. 40 years old and starting to play on the sand, I mean… For a footballer adapting to beach soccer is not easy at all. The surface is completely different. But these two guys were the only ones who could bend the ball like that… You saw the ball coming and you were just thinking “how has he done that?!” For me the memories that I have, well, I always say that it was the best period of my life, of that I’m certain, and I’ve also always said that is was one of the best periods for the sport in general as well, I’m sure.The atmosphere that we had, the comradery that everyone had, it was just amazing.
“What an amazing player Eric Cantona was... He was spectacular”
40 - INTERVIEW
“You will always have better skill and technique if you’ve played beach soccer”
- Despite the fights we had playing amongst ourselves. With some from Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid… but yeah this happens. - What does Alicante 1998 mean for you? For me it was the beginning of a new life. Being a part of that dressing room for the first time. I can never forget it and as time goes by I’m more aware of it. And at the time I thought that that was is an important change in my life… But! I think it changed yours too… - Mine also changed, yes. - Of course! Who would have said that beach soccer would bring you eternal happiness?! - Yes. The truth is that it was one of the best decisions that I’ve made in my life, well evidently. It’s true that the circumstances we very curious and in the end, it has been great, and of course it’s not over. - Yeah I think that Rosa is one of the fundamental pillars in the Quique Setién that we know today. - Absolutely, that’s for sure. She was one of the - you already know this - but she was one of the hostesses who was at the tournament. And while she studied she earnt some money working at the event to be able to carry on paying for her degree. And yeah, we had a photo taken together on the last day of the tournament and I gave her my address for her to send me the photo. And a relationship started through writing letters and after months we ended up getting to know each other and… - And today you have a family. After that event, this one was in Alicante, but then we were in Portugal, in Figueira da Foz. And after, we went to Budva. Do you remember? What memories does that trip bring back for you? Maybe the taxis on the curves. - I remember Manu Sarabia eating lobster in that restaurant, where Sofia Loren had been sitting with Charlton Heston! But wow, that trip was… I remember that taxi drivers running with no lights, overtaking other cars on the curves, driving in the opposite lane… And cliffs on our left, I mean… A real odyssey. I put my hand on his shoulder and shouted “What are you doing? What are you doing?”… It seemed like he wanted to kill us!
- I remember very well… - That was almost the end of our beach career… But well after that, Budva was spectacular. Even Mijatovic came to present, I remember… - That is true… What a time… And after that you had the experience of training in Russia… What was the experience like? Give us some details, because you probably made some kind of magic potion, because the base of that team won two World Cups. Leonov and the others… - Well they had a good coach! (laughs) I was not there when they won, but I left good foundations for that to happen… - You had a relationship with some of them before, too… - Yes, Popov called me. Dmitry Popov, who I had played with. - Yes, at Racing Santander. I was lucky enough to work with him there too… - Actually, we’re still in close contact, we are very good friends and we talk a lot. He is a great guy. He asked me if I would go there to coach the Russian beach soccer national team. I had no job at that time, and I said “of course.” I remember they took us to a training camp at the Krymea Peninsula, in Sebastopol. And we were there for almost two weeks, preparing to play the Euro Beach Soccer Cup in Moscow. We played that in a big arena that they filled with sand. - Yes, I remember... - I don’t remember the specifics, but I remember the team and the players we had… And the work we put in on a beach inside an unused Russian military camp, where the beach was part of an area which was used by soviet submarines… And we trained there every day, both in the morning and in the evening. I remember there was one player, I can’t remember his name now, who came all the way from the Kamchatka peninsula, a 10-hour flight, up to the Bering Strait… - He took longer to get there than you! - Absolutely! But he trained really hard and he performed well… We had a good tournament, and we reached the final, I remember. - Yes, you ended up as runners-up… But, although you had a closer relationship with the older members of that team, Popov, also (Nikolay) Pisarev who is now the General
42 - INTERVIEW Manager of the Russian FA… - (Valery) Karpin was there, too…
teams and players… And the next week we went to Brazil. And I played the World Championships there.
- But the young players in that team ended up as World Champions some years later… - There were some very good players, indeed… But not only great beach soccer players, they would have been good professional football players, too. Extraordinary athletes.
- Of course, and we were runners-up! Not bad! - Exactly… But was at that moment in which I told Joaquín “Look, Joaquín… this is not for me…” Joaquín imposed the military regime, he wouldn’t let me go out, I had to wake up at 6am to play a game at 10am, he got very strict, and he told me “don’t put a fox in a henhouse with these boys, Quique, they are fully focused…” And then, that kind of discipline was not something I felt like sticking too at that point in my life
- What relationship do you see between football and beach soccer? I am sure that, obviously, in the coordination, motion level, there are strong links. Actually, many clubs have a sand pit to help recovery and to do specific workouts. Many players, like Dani Alves or Marcelo for example have said on various occasions that they played beach soccer a lot before professional football. Indeed, in Brazil they play eleven-aside football on the beach. Do you think anything can be transferred from beach soccer to football? - Well, obviously, you will always get a higher skill and technique if you have played beach soccer, because beach soccer demands a lot of control of the ball, being able to manoeuvre with it, and an especially difficult technical execution that you need to be able to carry on with if you don’t want to lose the ball and be able to play it. This can be transferred to football, because it will help you in the ball control, in the way you position your body, in your relationship with the ball… It will also help you a lot in how to protect the ball, because you will learn to use your body, something crucial. - Yes, I remember how you insisted and taught me how to use my arms, my body to protect the ball… - Of course, there are players that you can easily recognise how they manage the spaces, and know how to protect the ball, because sometimes you have the ball on your chest and you cannot play it, and sometimes your opponents take advantage of that easily if you don’t know how to use your body and your arms to protect the ball and give it time to fall to the ground and be able to play it. These situations are very common in football, and not everybody does it perfectly. These would be some of the things they have in common, maybe a few more… Also, whoever understands football clearly will see it clearly both on the grass and or the sand… You can play one touch, or control the ball and play later… there are things that can come in useful, but… - And after that stage in which you were at Racing and so on, I will remind you of something important… you came back to beach soccer and the Spanish national team and ended up as runner-up in the World… Do you recall, after Racing, it was like, at that time in 2004, it was … how many years since you had retired from [professional football]? - It had been eight years - Yes, eight years … And having a different role at that time, beginning to coach, with a bigger involvement in football… But you came back to play beach soccer, and became World Cup runner-up… - There was a period after I began coaching, in which there were certain circumstances… In 2001, at Racing de Santander, the team was not going very well, and I was offered to become the manager of the team, taking care also of the sporting direction. I had to give up beach soccer, as I could not go and play. But after that stage, for around two years, Piterman arrived at Racing. And as he came into the club, I left. Then I remember Joaquín called me, he was already the national coach, I think - Yes he was… In that time the team was composed of young players - Then I went with Manolo Preciados to Sao Paulo, one week before the World Cup, and I stayed in Sao Paulo with Manolo watching Santos play, watching a lot of football games, watching many
- That’s true, things were different already at that point... But you have always been cray about the ball... - That motivation for the ball when I have the opportunity to play, for example when I go to Santander and play on the beach, or always being ready to play, it is a cultural thing. It is the principles I have stuck in my head… The truth is that I am where I am because of the ball. I have been making a living from football for 40 years or so, and experiencing football like I have done since the very first day and like I still do is something I regard as a privilege. The truth is that the ball was always what I felt more attracted to. I have really enjoyed playing football and I hope to keep doing it for some years more … - Well, then to call you for a beach soccer game in your free time will never be a bad idea, will it? - I have no titanium hips or anything… It’s true that sometimes it squeaks a little bit, but that’s ok. I can still play. I train hard. - Well, I have known you for many years already, so, apart from being my mentor, both as a sportsman but mainly on a personal basis, as this conversation might have made clear, you have always been a positive guy, at least throughout the experiences I have lived with you. You have enjoyed every situation, and as you say, you adapt to all possible contexts, sportive or professional, and also personal ones… And above all, I am talking personally, having been lucky enough to live all the things I have lived with you, all those are exceptional experiences, and I will always be thankful. - I am going to answer to that.. Maybe not now, but I also want to do an interview to you, so that you explain how you became the best beach soccer player in the world for years…. Because it is no small achievement. You were not born a beach soccer player, but you achieved that through effort, hard work, … - I had good mentors … - We have worked together outside beach soccer, when you came to Racing Santander…. I remember how you would take a bag of balls and go down to the Sardinero beach and shoot, dribbled, practise bicycle kicks, and always that dedication to work hard to become what you became. We have always admired you and this is the reason why you have always been there. - I have always had good role models… - Well, this is something good, learning is always something good, of course… - Well, the message is precisely that: we can always keep learning. You always have to take good things from of what happen to you… Well, I wish you all the best in the last stage… And let’s hope that everybody can get back to their normal lives, and everybody stays healthy… The rest we will manage day by day - Very well. Likewise. I hope everything goes well for you and we all get through this as quickly as possible… - Big hug, “grandad”. Take care… - Big hug, ciao…
44 - PREVIEW
EUROPEAN SEASON 2020
NAZARÉ:
THE CENTRE OF THE BEA B
each soccer is heading back to Nazaré. Beach Soccer is coming home. The Portuguese resort will become this season’s European beach soccer epicentre and will be the venue of the most important national and club competitions this year. The whole Euro Beach Soccer League conclusion will travel to the Nazaré this year. Both the Superfinal and the Promotion Final will take place in the magnificent Estadio de Viveiro, after Beach Soccer World Wide and the Nazaré municipality agreed to host the competitions between the 3rd and the 6th of September. These strategic decisions have been made after following Figueira
da Foz’s decision to postpone their hosting rights of the Superfinal to 2021. That same week, Nazaré was also supposded to welcome the Women’s Euro Beach Soccer Cup 2020, with Europe’s best national teams fighting for the continental crown, which currently belongs to Russia. But the difficulties for international mobility will not let that happen this year. But that will not be all, as the most anticipated beach soccer event of the year, the Euro Winners Cup, will take up the baton the following week. The best clubs on the Old Continent will be taking
The Estadio de Viveiro will host the biggest European competitions this summer
ACH SOCCER WORLD to the sand in the Estadio do Viveiro, the undisputed theatre of beach soccer in 2020.
to postpone any international sports competition, including the EBSL Superfinal scheduled for this year, to 2021.
Due to calendar restrictions, the Euro Winners Challenge will not take place this year, but that means that, just for 2020, the Euro Winners Cup will be open to all the clubs willing to participate (provided they are approved by their federation, of course).
Despite the setback caused by the global pandemic, Figueira da Foz wanted to reiterate their commitment and interest in beach soccer, and extended their contract with Beach Soccer Worldwide to 2021, with the intention of keeping the relationship further in the future.
Figueira da Foz moves to 2021 Due to administrative and economic reasons caused by the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the whole planet, the Municipality of Figueira da Foz, in agreement with Beach Soccer World Wide, have decided
In turn, the stadium of Chisinau, where the Moldovan Football Association was planning to host the EBSL Promotion Final, might be hosting, later in September, an International BSWW competition featuring four National Teams.
46 - INSIDE BEACH SOCCER
5 TO WATCH IN BEACH S
BY MARK PENDERGAST, BEACH SOCCER TV COMMENTAT
Christian
Elliot
Spain
Switzerland
T
he new normal means no nights out, no concerts and no trips to the cinema. We have absolutely nothing to talk about! The lack of leisure means when you have your next zoom-a-thon the conversation will turn to the only question we have left, “What are you watching?” The recommendation of “what to watch” is the ‘only thing’ left in a locked-down world. A good suggestion you are a hero, a poor one makes you a socially distanced outcast. The same could apply if you find yourself online with a few Beach Soccer fans and someone pipes up “Who should we be watching”. Well instead of floundering like a freshly caught fish on the shores of Nazare (other Beach Soccer venues are available) I have your handy guide as to who you should be watching when the season renews. Christian (Coach) – Spain The long time goalkeeper of the national team and more recently he has served as assistant coach. This more than qualifies him to take over the reins from Joaquin Alonso. He is a coach obsessed with
Akb
detail and will leave no stone unturned when it comes to giving his team an edge. He was known as an obsessive trainer during his playing days. I remember speaking to the Spanish team doctor about the players, immediately he highlighted Christian’s work ethic. One of the most important qualities a leader can possess is a willingness to improve himself and the team, and the new Spanish coach has it in bundles. The part-time coach and policeman will take the values from his day job and apply the same forensic detail to his new coaching role. Eliott (Goalkeeper) - Switzerland The Spain-based goalkeeper was like a gift from the gods for Switzerland. Veteran keeper Valentin had announced his retirement and this was a big problem. The Swiss had never been blessed with an outstanding back-up for their Number 1, so much so I think coach Schrinzi was toying with the idea of going in goal. The fact he had used Noel Ott, the team’s star player, as a goalkeeper at an EBSL event showed they had issues in finding someone that could help the team build their game from the goal. The Swiss could find shot stoppers but never someone with the
Ira
SOCCER IN 2020
TOR
bari
an
Von
Josep Jr
Portugal
Italy
foot skills of Valentin, until now. Elliot is a looming presence who fills the goal with such a wide frame it casts a shadow over half the pitch. He is a fantastic shot-stopper, and most importantly, this is combined with sublime foot skills. It’s like a politician that tells the truth, a rare and almost unique combination. He is part of the slowly emerging new generation of Swiss players and one upon which the team will be built. Akbari – Iran A defensive player prone to the spectacular. He was without a doubt the star of the show for Iran in the World Beach Games topping off a fantastic tournament with a sprinkling of spectacular goals. His first-time volleyed effort from his own half being the highlight. His performances were one of the reasons more, and more Iranian fans packed the stadium each day. Spartak Moscow were watching and picked up the Iranian for the Mundialito de Clubes in Moscow, where once again he showed why he is so highly rated. Von - Portugal Von has done what many have tried, but few have achieved, and
that is break into the Portuguese squad. The steadfast nature of the team is its strength but also a barrier for new additions. Von has been the exception, along perhaps with fellow youngster Ruben Brilhante, the Nazaré wonderkid, now establishing himself as a regular in Mario Narciso’s line-up, and he has managed to do so with his nose for the goal, an impressive capacity of finding the net from almost anywhere in the pitch and his natural ability for the overhead kick. Josep Jr - Italy There is an unwritten rule in Beach Soccer, if you want to be good, get a Brazilian. Now to be fair, Italy were pretty good before they got a taste of Samba magic but once they added some Brazilian genes they weren’t going back! Josep Jr, who lives in Brazil but was born in Italy from an Italian dad and a Brazilian mum, adds an unusual element to the Azzurri, in that he can dribble on the sand. He glides across the bumpy shores of Europe like it’s the green grass of a pristine Maracana. This gives Italy, who are the masters of the overhead kick, something different, something unique and most importantly, something highly effective.
48 - INSIDE BEACH SOCCER
WOMEN’S BEACH SOCCER
AIS PLAYAS DE SAN JAVIER COACH JOAQUÍN CASTAÑO TA
Phallon Tullis-Joyce
Carmen Fresneda
USA
Spain
A
fter finishing his career as a beach soccer player six years ago, Joaquín Castaño was in no doubt that he wanted to become a beach soccer coach and help women’s beach soccer grow. He saw great possibilities and potential, as well as an area of the sport where he could add a lot of value. Nowadays, he is one of the most knowledgeable coaches on the global women’s beach soccer scene, winner of the last Euro Winners Cup, and we wanted to ask him about the players that he thinks deserve our particular attention over the coming seasons. These are the five players he chose, and why: Phallon Tullis-Joyce - USA Between the sticks, I would want Phallon Tullis Joyce (State de Reims). Despite the fact that she is still very young, she has a strong personality and a big presence on the pitch. She is 1.85m (6’1”) tall but she moves with great agility, and that makes her very difficult to get past. It wasn’t for nothing that she was named Best Goalkeeper in last year’s Euro Winners Cup. Her professional contract with the French side has prevented her from making her debut with the US
Melissa
national beach soccer team, but she will no doubt have a place with the Stars and Stripes when she becomes eligible. Besides that, she is calm and consistent in her decision making, what results into actions that turn into very usefull for her team. If she specialises in beach soccer and works on her footwork, the future of beach soccer goalkeeping will be hers for years to come. Carmen Fresneda - Spain It took some time for her to reach the high level she is at today, but I think her moment has arrived. She is one of the most versatile players I have ever seen, thanks to her qualities and condition. She can play anywhere on the pitch, because she is very intelligent. Moreover, she is a really fast player, who knows how to mark and defend and also how to get into dangerous positions. Last year, she won both the Euro Winners Cup and a gold medal at the ANOC World Beach Games. Maybe she was not one of the most highlighted players, but her contribution was instrumental to those two victories. Her moment has come, I have no doubt.
Portu
R: 5 TO WATCH IN 2020
ALKS ABOUT THE PLAYERS TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR
Gomes
ugal
Saki Kushiyama Japan
Melissa Gomes - Portugal She has won the last two the top scorer awards in the Euro Winners Cup for a reason. No player has her eye for goal. She is terribly smart on the pitch, her moves are very intelligent, and, moreover, she is very good in a one on one situation thanks to her terrific technique.
Andrea Miron Spain
very good at the bicycle kicks, an essential skill in this sport. If she manages to win titles at club level, she will need to be considered amongst the best on the planet, and we really look forward to see her at a National Teams level, too.
Although she always has goal-scoring on her mind, just as the best strikers in the world do, she is also very generous with her teammates, and whilst scoring a lot of goals she also accumulates many assists. She has a bright future in the sport, although she is already considered among the greats.
Andrea Mirón - Spain I wanted to leave this player, who is a reference point for coaches, teammates and also opponents on a global level, until last. As we use to say, she is the player every coach wants to have in his/her squad. She is a really powerful player, who defends very intelligently and has the capacity to shoot from distance and to break into the opponents’ danger zones to score goals.
Saki Kushiyama - Japan It was a great surprise when I saw her perform for the first time at the 2018 Euro Winners Cup, her first ever experience at the international women’s beach soccer highest level.
She performs like a super experienced player despite her age. She can strike the ball with both feet and in recent years she has improved a lot technically to adapt to the game on the sand, becoming a specialist.
She is a player with an outstanding strength, skillful with both feet and with great scoring instinct. Playing as a pivot, with her back to goal, she is definitely one of the best in the world, and she is also
She has won everything that can be won in the women’s game already and if she truly believes in herself she will soon be at the very top.
50 - INTERVIEW
“WITH SACCHI’S MILAN, WE BROKE DOWN ALL BARRIERS OF HOW FOOTBALL WAS PLAYED” MASSIMO AGOSTINI (ITALY’S TEAM MANAGER)
I
n another of our special beach soccer conversations, we had Italian National Team dynamo Dario Ramacciotti chat with the Azzurri’s Team ManageR, and his former coach, Massimo Agostini, about his years in the Italian top flight, in which he played and scored hundreds of goals for the biggest squads, his arrival in beach soccer, how the sport has changed, and much more. “The Condor” certainly has a lot of interesting things to say…
my appearances between the Italian Cup and the championship, I scored five goals and I have to say that was a good number, provided I was the substitute of Van Basten, so it was impossible to play. Who can replace Van Basten?! It was impossible!
RAMACCIOTTI: Hello Condor! How is it going? I see you’re already pretty tanned. Were you at the beach? AGOSTINI: Yes, I went to the beach a little… I missed it. We must have a bit of sun.
- What is the most beautiful memory you have in your career? I know it is not an easy choice after being on the grass for about 20 years, but which one would you choose? - One of the best moments, let’s say, was when after the third year in Serie B in Cesena there was a call from AS Roma. I must say that I was a bit unprepared. In the first year in Cesena I did almost nothing because I was in the military and then the other two years I was carving out a good space, I was trying to stay in the starting line-up. I scored 18 goals in the two years. Then the call from Roma came, and it was one of the best Roma teams because they were the world champions. There were great players and when the club director told me “You are no longer a Cesena player, Roma bought you! This means that you and your agent must leave for Rome to sign the contract.” “Me? I’m already in Serie A at Roma? Really?” ”Yes! They saw you and they want you to play in Rome.”
- Did you manage to play table football at least? - Yes, I did play table football, now we have turned to the table version as footvolley at a certain age the pitch becomes too big, you understand? It’s 9x9 meters… And only two players…And now the footvolley players are all very fit, very physical, and very competitive, and they do a lot of acrobatics and stuff… not for us. - I see… So, let’s get to the interview. About your career, I think everyone knows about it but if not then please explain a little about your great career as a professional footballer. You played at AC Milan, Roma, Napoli, Parma…so, big teams. - If I speak about my career, I could talk for days… - Ok, then let me ask you something. For me as a Milan supporter one of the best things is that you played for Milan. In fact, that you played in maybe one of the strongest Milan teams ever. Not only in Milan, but in one of the strongest teams of all time with the black Rijkaard, Gullit, Van Basten, big players… - In that period, I think I was part of one of the strongest teams in the world even if it was the last year of the Sacchi’s period. But I think at that time the team broke down all the barriers about the way they played on the field. I knew that it was difficult to carve out an important space for me. However, I decided to accept the proposal and at the time I was playing for Cesena in Serie A and in December, Milan gave me a proposal and I accepted immediately, even though it was only a verbal agreement. And I held on until the end because in January, Inter also made me an offer, but I kept my word with Milan, and I went there. I’m happy with how I did things even if I only have a small role in the team but I must say that it was a very important year. We won two trophies, I made
- I believe that it was very complicated at the time. - It was just impossible...
- Yes, I can imagine! - It was one of the biggest joys in my life. Can you imagine? For a player from a small province, after only three years of Serie B, going to AS Roma, it was such a big joy! Then… there was also the victory with Milan, the victory with Parma at the Italian Cup... - Also the “salvation” (from relegation) with Cesena I think that must be one of the most exciting memories too, I believe. - Absolutely! I was with Cesena for about two years in Serie A and I helped them to avoid relegation into the second division twice. I scored about 24 goals and in the last year we were in danger of relegation and it was me who scored against the 1-0 against Verona. On that day I knew that I was going to play for AC Milan. This means that on that day the “circle was closed” I said goodbye to everyone after the game…in the stadium that I played in when you could see the pipes. Then they built the new stadium. - Dino Manuzzi… - Yes it was Dino Manuzzi and now is called the “Orogel Stadium”. It was a great joy that day! As we saved the team, I scored the
“My nicest memory in beach soccer is winning the European League in 2005�
52 - INTERVIEW
“Taking Van Basten’s place in the starting eleven was impossible, but I scored lots of goals”
winning goal, I was going to AC Milan, so the cycle was complete, and it was a farewell for me even though I came back later on. That was also an immense joy for me, winning the title as the top scorer in Serie B with Ancona and also playing in my mid-thirties at a big club like Napoli and still scoring goals was also a great satisfaction… - I saw the other day on TV you scored twice with them, I don’t remember who it was against but you scored a great goal with Napoli. I saw it on YouTube the other day. - I think it was against Bari because Fontani was the goalkeeper. - Yes you scored two great goals! After a great career like yours how did you come to learn about beach soccer? How did it happen? How did you started playing? - It was in 2002, when I was playing for Forli still in C2 and it was my last year as a professional because I was already well into my thirties. I was about 32 or 34 years old or even more maybe and we were last in the Serie C, and they wanted to put on a new national beach soccer team. They wanted to create a completely new team and called some players. So, they called me. But at the time I was still playing for Forli. - Still as a professional... - Yes, still as a professional. They called me to go to a tournament in Liège in Belgium to play in a little place and you had to go on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When they asked me, I thought “why not?” I said to my coach that if he was OK with that, I would go. Anyway, that was my last year in the club. On Tuesday, when we got back to training, I saw the coach and I said to him, “coach I have been invited to go to an event in Liege an exhibition tournament of beach soccer.” He said, “beach soccer? But you are still playing football!” “I know but I am not interested, I would like to try it. If I still play football next year I will probably play as an amateur and I am not interested. Also, we are doing well here …” “OK no worries, Ago, go. If you want it so much, go and try beach soccer and we will see each other next Monday and you can tell me all about it.” Then we went to Liege. It was an experimental event, we lost all three matches but I scored 12 goals and I won the top scorer award. From that moment, I really liked it and I was hooked. - You had fun. - Yes, so much fun but, it was very tiring too. - But you had a gift for it. - Yes, because I was acrobatic at that time. After that, I used to do only bicycle kicks as I used to play like this…It was the only movement that I was used to… - There were other Serie A players who tried beach soccer but were not so talented and there were others that were more talented. You remember? Like Eric Cantona, Cantona was very good. - Yes, there was Cantona and he was very good, he was strong and knew how to lift the ball. But I think at that time when I was playing there were two players I would like to mention. One of them was Hernani from Portugal. On a defensive level, he understood this sport immediately because he knew how to mark and how to defend. He could do anything he wanted. He was a great player, and he could also score. Another one who I think was very good was the Spanish goalkeeper Roberto. He used to play football, but he adapted immediately to the sand. He played with us at Scarabralli, in 2005, and we won the European championship. He was awarded as the best European goalkeeper. He adapted immediately and he was a very good goalkeeper. Another one was Tresoldi also a Serie A European champion. However, it was tough for him, because you know, it is hard on the sand…If you don’t adapt its very tough. - Yes, it’s not the same, it’s not easy. - [Pierluigi] Orlandini tried to play with us and tried on sand. He
played one tournament and didn’t show up again, because, you know, the sand. You know how difficult sand can be and you must have the strength to work, to sweat and to know that you have to play under the sun at 34ºC, when the sand is burning. You have to suffer a little bit. - Correct, you must have the desire to suffer a little bit after a great career. You must have had fun. - What did you win with your team, Cavaliere del Mare? - We won the league in the first two years, both the 2004-2005 championship and the Italian Super Cup. We had Madjer in that team. After that I had to stop because of those rules, rules that for me were not right, especially in beach soccer, that said that if you had a license as a professional coach you had to stop playing with the amateurs. - What a shame! Is the rule still in force? - I think so, because it comes from football. We were supposed to go to San Benedetto for the league with Cavalieri. At the time I had just finished the exam for the second professional category coach and just as the results of the exam came out the other team’s secretary raised a complaint and said “D’Agostini cannot play anymore because he is a professional coach.” From that day I stopped playing. - This means that you were very good, Ago! Otherwise they would have let you play... - No, it’s not only that. Indeed, I was there because I was called by [Alberto] Mambelli. He wanted me to go with the national team, to have someone with a name… but I did it because I liked it and I wanted to play. We also wanted to help the sport to grow, and my objective was to make it grow and then someone came and made this rule that in my opinion makes no sense for beach soccer, because at that time beach soccer was considered recreational and our intention was to support it… - But they didn’t let you play… - And then I had to stop playing and I became the coach. Because I could only play for the Italian national team not in the championships. - When was that? - It was 2004. - Ahh this was when you had a great season with more than 28 goals, but you could not travel to the World Cup because you were injured, right? - Yes but I started the year before when it was the Ventaglio and it also was when Nando and Mambelli united the amateur leagues but we were still using the Ventaglio shirt. The year after the finals in Montecarlo, Mambelli and Nando wanted to play with the Italian national shirt. - The official one - Yes, the official one for the European finals in Montecarlo, well it was difficult in the beginning. Then, in 2004, the LND came on board. I had a very good year because I did two seasons as a player. I had 48 appearances 55 goals then after that I reached the age that you must make a decision. Whether you play or not… because when we won the European championship when I was a playercoach. Then Mambelli asked me to take over the national team as player-coach. And to be honest, at the beginning I wasn’t sure, as I only wanted to play. - Because you had fun and you wanted to play. - Yes, I had fun and I enjoyed playing, then after that we couldn’t find anyone to come to the beach, and I thought okay let’s try as a player-coach. The guys already knew me, so we did all the league stages, we won the San Benedetto one, we won the stage
54 - INTERVIEW in Cervia, we won two stages of the European League in Italy and I did well. Then we went to Marseille in July 2005 for the finals. We beat the hosts and Switzerland, then Germany and finally won against Portugal on penalties. Well, I have to say that our team in the early years only played the classic three against one. - The typical Italian style, all at the back! - Not really. We didn’t know at that time how to play like others did very well and especially when it was the two against two or to invert the roles. We played with quick movements, trying to cut inside the box, and with Carotenutto, we use to play one on one with the defender. But when we played one on one, we needed to define… When I understood this new type of game, I must admit that we were very tough on a defensive level. Very tough but some of the movements and turns were very hard. I was a striker at the time but took me a while to understand that I was not tracking back enough, so this was one of my flaws. - Right - After that, I understood much better, and in the final, we were 5-1 down in the third period against Portugal, and at the time the Portuguese team was impossible to beat. So I said to myself we cannot turn the game. Afterwards, at the end of the second period, I saw that Scalabrelli was very nervous and very angry with the bench and it was like a film, so I brought him off and put Rasullo on for the third period. I didn’t care, as we were losing 5-1. But I must say that this change turned the game around and I scored the last two goals and we got back to 5 – 5 with just nine seconds left. - After that you won the European championship on penalties and you were a player-coach but after that big turnaround was when you had a chance to work as the national coach again. To relive the satisfaction. - No, because after that European championship I was only a coach. We won the European championship and we went to the World
Cup that year and from there I was out, and I was only the coach. - Ok, you were only the coach - Then I had a slight argument with Cosentino after the World Cup because we were knocked out in the group phase, because I couldn’t count on Carotenuto and two or three other players. I built that team because we only had three options. Sansonetti, Ahmed and Gianmaria Sacchi. Those were the three options. Sacchi didn’t want to come because in a tournament in the Reunion Islands, where we reached the final and lost against France, he realized the level internationally was too high for him. So, I took Sansonetti and Ahmed as forwards. So, imagine… two guys who had never played an international match came to Rio de Janeiro for a World Cup and we were eliminated in the group stage. That’s why, on the plane back from Rio, I was upset and I had a chat with Cosentino and they were forced to make a choice. And you know, in these cases the decision is always favourable to the manager of the beach soccer division, at the time Cosentino, so Tavecchio dismissed me. Unfortunately, I was out for eight years. But it was okay because I was also willing to coach football. I’ve been at Cesena, women’s Serie A, academy in America…until 2015 when I was called to go back to the beach soccer national team again. - Exactly, which we remember very well because you debuted with a victory in the Mediterranean Games in Pescara. We also had a great qualifier and a great World Cup in Bahamas. We fought for the third and fourth place. We met Brazil in the semi-final, who objectively were too much for us at the time. - I agree. I think we met the best team at that time in terms of strength, play and maturity. - Yes, they were super strong! - In my opinion, in the Bahamas, the final was the semi-final match Italy vs Brazil. Then, for a period and a half, we also had a say
“The best Italian players I have seen are Carotenuto, Pasquali, Fruzzetti, Gori and you (Ramacciotti)�
56 - INTERVIEW in terms of rhythm and competitiveness. I honestly think that in such a match you make technical mistakes, which is natural… you have to suffer and try to maintain the result but… - You have to wait until they make a mistake. And that day they didn’t make any. And that was proved in the final, when they won 6-0 against Tahiti. - Yeah, 6-0 easily and Brazil even stopped trying at some point. It can happen, because the will of doing the right thing in that precise moment, when you have the feeling that you’re pushing them… Remember that at the second period it was 2-2 against Brazil. So, you are confident and try to do things and then they smash you. If you miss your chances, they punish you. Brazil won that match basically thanks to our mistakes. If we had suffered as we suffered in Jesolo for the qualification against Belarus, an important match that we won 2-1. - Gabriele and I scored - Correct! For the three periods we kept the match very tight. Instead, at the World Cup, we wanted to demonstrate that we were also strong and unfortunately, we had a lack of experience. An amazing World Cup. - Absolutely. Do you remember that in 2016 in Jesolo, we arrived in such a good shape at the Euro Beach Soccer League in Catania but Gori got injured, he pulled his quadricep, there was the issue with Corosiniti’s father… it was a shame! - In the match against Portugal we missed Gori and Corosiniti and we still almost won the match! - Luckily, we’d managed to convince Gabriele not to play because the week after we had the World Cup Qualifier in Jesolo. If Gabriele had got injured, then it would have been the end for us. - With the current protocol, Gori would have gone home after Catania. We hadn’t done the protocol with the doctor yet, so we reached an agreement in sight of the qualifier 10 days after. We tried to let him stay and recover and then we would see what happened in Jesolo. And we did great, we’ve had a great qualifier. - By the way, what an amazing atmosphere in Jesolo… We were really good there. Very nice. - The fans were awesome too. I have to say it was a terrific event. There’s also the fact that we were in a hotel with an amazing service, they didn’t miss a thing. Nando (Arcopinto) did a great job organizing it all. However, before that, also in 2016, we played another final in Belgrade. We lost the final of the Euro Cup against Portugal. Nevertheless, our path from 2015 to 2017 was the seed to the transformation in 2018 which lead to winning the European League. In those two years and a half, you brought the maturity that was needed. - Ago, if you remember when they decided to appoint Emiliano (Del Duca) as a coach. I called you because I really wanted you to remain with the group somehow. I think from me all my teammates there’s respect and appreciation towards you. They love you as a person. Your role in the sport is so important. A 50-year old person like you, who has played for AC Milan and for Roma, who has had such a career and is so passionate for the sport... All this makes you honorable and is also a very nice thing. We often come see you and ask: “Ago, what was Van Basten like?” We like this relationship. - I also liked it a lot. Remember that on the WhatsApp group I sent a farewell message because it all came unexpectedly. After the third place in the EBSL Superfinal in Terracina in 2017, I didn’t really understand the reasons behind my dismissal. That same day I made my statement because I knew I wouldn’t regret my
Agostini scored 48 beach socce
55 goals in er matches
58 - INTERVIEW decision. However, after your messages of support, Costacurta understood the situation and asked me to be the assistant coach of Emiliano. But as a matter of respect towards Emiliano, I would have never accepted it. - Absolutely. By the way Ago, we put in a great performance in that Superfinal. I missed a goal in the semi-final against Russia. - But that happens. What about Marinai’s penalty? - In that semi-final against Russia Gabriele was suspended. It’s the power of destiny. How many times have we had to play an important match without Gabriele Gori? But beyond that… Who do you think has been the best Italian player? - You! (both laugh) I’ve followed your career since your debut in 2010, before the World Cup in Ravenna, and you’ve evolved and improved incredibly in this sport. Talking only about Italian players, other great players I’ve played with and witnessed over the years were, first, Carotenuto, he took my place when I retired from playing. Then Roberto Pasquali, who was a bit crazy on the pitch, but he was talented, dynamic... - That’s true, I remember - Then, Gianni Fruzzetti was a player with an outstanding technical ability, in such a smart and relaxed way. Impressive. And then in recent times, I’d say Gori and yourself. One of my pupils too, the “kid” Marinai. Palmacci as well, I brought him into the national team from Terracina where he was playing. - Exactly, Palmacci too. You all know in my opinion Gori is the best player in the world. However, Palmacci has played for 15 years, has touched all areas of the sport, and still today is a decisive player at his age of 35 or 36. Above all, he’s a humble guy. When I joined the team, he had already played like four or five World Cups and he never makes you feel unprepared. In my opinion, he has always been an example for me, like others, such as Corosiniti. The group of the last seven or eight years has been fantastic from all points of view. - You’re right. Paulo has been great at changing his role on the pitch, obviously thanks to his characteristics, allowing him to grow throughout the seasons. - To understand how good Palmacci is, you must play in his team. Regardless of my movements on the pitch, he always manages to pass me the ball. - There’s also another player who I coached in Terracina when he was 16. He’s Fraino (Frainetti). When I used to be the coach, Fraino was always in the team. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t as good as someone else, but as a teammate he was fantastic. He was always humble… - Indeed, Fraino and I shared a room because you know how much I need someone like him next to me. And what about the foreign players? Pick one. I know there are many, but just pick the strongest of all time. - I will pick 3. Number one is Madjer, at European level and worldwide. He started in 2001, he was a machine. He played easily on the ground, in the air... - Great person too. Respectful, humble, he never made people feel the weight of his expertise, a big symbol and now Portugal have kept him active in the management of the sport. - This is how it should be. A player of such characteristics must remain in the structure to make the sport grow. In the second place there’s Amarelle. I’ve been lucky to play in the times of Madjer and Amarelle. In the end, I never witnessed anything similar to Jorginho. I’ve seen him doing overheads from the ground, jumping over players. Like “Fuga della Vittoria” but on the sand. He used
to do bicycle kicks, trick the opponent and then shot and find the goal. I thought “this is impossible, these guys are magicians”. There are also players that have helped develop the sport in terms of structure. For instance, Amarelle works for FIFA occasionally and for BSWW, Jorginho played until he was 40 years old. - I think he still plays sometimes. - I think beach soccer needs these players. But first the structure needs to be fine-tuned. In my opinion, the Italian Championship, being one of the strongest, can’t be implemented like this, being played only over three months, with the Cup, everything between mid-June and August. - It should last at least four or five months, considering that in Italy the weather is warm from April to October. - If the Championship was planned from April to October, that would lead to more support from sponsors and TV. Also, the clubs would be able to be active all year long. - In those months they could organize, do the pre-season… - The clubs must stay active so that players are engaged with that team all year round and don’t go and play somewhere else. Ok here comes my last reflection. - I do have a last question. - OK but let’s close that subject for a second. You must work on the grassroots, create the Under 18 to develop future talent so as to make the sport evolve in the country. These changes should be made to ensure that beach soccer in Italy doesn’t remain an amateur sport forever. - It’s true. I think the Federations are already working on all this. Let’s hope for the best. Nevertheless, Ago let’s finish with your nicest memory… - Let’s go back to 2005 as it was the first important trophy for the FIGC in beach soccer. In that final victory, after two penalties from Roberto Pasquali, I fell to my knees crying and the whole group including Cosentino and Nando came running towards me to hug me. - Victory is always… - The victory, even personally for all that we had done in those months. It was the first time for most of us. Also winning the European Championship was awesome. In recent times, winning the Superfinal in Alghero was astonishing. - What we experienced and felt in that victory… -Your emotions, yeah. That victory I had already lived it years ago. But to see you, after fighting for so long, making sacrifices, your reactions at the final whistle… If you re-watch it, it’s so emotional. To see the athletes after so much hard work, tiredness, disappointment and arguments. - Yeah, that happens too. - Winning the way we won, because we suffered in all the matches of that Superfinal. But we ended up winning all the matches even the final on penalties against Spain. That was amazing. - I agree. Being honest, it’s been a very nice chat. When BSWW asked me to do this I immediately said “yes” and I know you’ve enjoyed it too. I said, “Ago is very passionate and will love doing it too.” So I wanted to thank you, on behalf of everybody and of BSWW, too. Keep in touch Ago. See you soon, I hope to see you very soon on some beautiful Italian beach. - Thank you. It’s been a pleasure Dario. Thank you BSWW. - Bye Ago! - It’s been a pleasure. Bye everyone.
60 - INSIDE BEACH SOCCER
THE NEW OFFICIAL BEACH SOCCER BALL HAS LANDED…
THE FINAL BY PUM
I
t been a long time coming but the brand-new PUMA beach soccer ball, the Final, is here and already making appearances on the sand! You may have seen the brand-new addition to the long line of awesome beach soccer balls we’ve had over the years, as it has been appearing on social media a lot since its release. the Final by PUMA continues to arrive at its new homes all over the world and beach soccer players of all levels are already putting the ball to good use. The ball was first revealed at the Mundialito de Clubes Moscow where it was netted 199 times over 20 matches. The feedback received from the some of the world’s best players who had travelled to compete in Moscow, and those who have trained with the ball since then, has been amazing.
The great news is, it is lucky that this ball is so popular, because PUMA and Beach Soccer Worldwide have decided that it will also be used for the 2021 season as well, after the 2020 calendar has suffered so much disruption and postponement following the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ball Now let’s get down to the finer details of this work of art that our friends at PUMA have designed for us. Here are the main features of the Final: - FIFA Quality Pro: Guarantees the highest level of performance - Hybrid construction: no visible seams for improved durability, increased retention of shape and reduced water absorption - Six panels of equal surface area: bigger panels for better and softer barefoot kicks - 1mm TPU outer with multi-foam backing: Soft touch, power and
A
The Final will also be the official beach soccer ball for the 2021 season
excellent flight characteristics, good abrasion -resistance - Rubber bladder + PAL (PUMA Air Lock) valve: Excellent air retention What the players thought… Morocco captain and highest-ever scorer, Nassim El Hadaoui, said, “It is a seriously high-quality ball. It is truly great to play with”, and his words were echoed by numerous others, including Rui Coimbra from the Portuguese National squad: “I really like the weight of the PUMA ball. It is easy to control and you can hit really powerful shots with it.”
air”, while her fellow Lioness Sarah Kempson, 2017 world’s best player, said, “I like the new PUMA ball a lot. You can create both power and precision. I think it’s a good ball for goalkeepers too as there’s a good weight to it.” The German captain was also impressed with the Final, saying, ‘I love the new ball, it is great for both playing and shooting. It is very well balanced The colour is really nice and easy to see on the sand and on a TV screen.”
His teammate Jordan Santos, currently best player in the world, said, “for me the Final is perfect. I can’t wait to score some more goals with it!”
His Emirati counterpart, Walid Mohammed, added his compliments. “I have already trained with the new Final and it’s amazing. The feel, the colour and the design are beautiful. I like this ball so much. It is really satisfying to play with.”
England star Molly Clark said, “I really like the weight of PUMA ball. It means you can control it well and it doesn’t move as much in the
Are you excited to get your hands (or feet!) on the Final by PUMA? You can head to the BSWW Store right now to order yours!
62 - INSIDE BEACH SOCCER
T
hese 29 players will make up the BSWW Ambassador programme in the 2020 season, accompanied by the 10 BSWW Influencers.
In preparation for the long-awaited start of the 2020 beach soccer season, Beach Soccer Worldwide has released its updated list of ambassadors in the sport. In total we have 29 ambassadors and the majority of them you will remember from last year’s programme. However, there are some new, and yet familiar, faces on the list… Naturally, we couldn’t leave out the world’s two best players, Portugal’s Jordan Santos and Spain’s Carol González, who were crowned king and queen of the sport at the 2019 Beach Soccer Stars gala in Dubai. Alongside them are German talisman Christian Biermann, Mexico’s star keeper Anjuli Ladron, and El Salvador’s Ruben Batres, scorer of the Best Goal of 2019. Madjer, despite the fact that the Portuguese legend has retired as a beach soccer player, will continue to develop the game from off the pitch as a BSWW Ambassador and in his new role at the Portuguese
Football Federation. So here it is, the 2020 list of Beach Soccer Worldwide Ambassadors in full: Aaron Clarke (ENG) - aaronclarke10 Abu Azeez (NGA) - officialzeez Adriele Rocha (BRA) - adriele.bs07 Anjuli Ladron (MEX) - anjuliladron Barbara Colodetti (BRA) - barbaracolodetti Boris Nikonorov (RUS) - boris_nikonorov Carol González (ESP) - carolgp9 Cem Keskin (TUR) - cemkeskin1010 Christian Biermann (GER) - biermann_7 Elinton Andrade (POR) - elintonandrade Filipe Silva (BRA) - filipesilvabs Gabriele Gori (ITA) - gabrigori_10 Ihar Bryshtel (BLR) - brish8 Jordan Santos (POR) - jor5an_beachsoccer_ Llorenç Gomez (ESP) - llorenc_enzo10 Madjer (POR) - madjer_official Melissa Gomes (POR) - gomes.melissa9 Mohammad Moradi (IRN) - mohammadmoradi
Molly Clark (ENG) - molly_clark10 Nassim El Hadoui (MOR) - nassim10_official Ndiaye Al Seyni (SEN) - al_seyni_ndiaye_99 Nick Perera (USA) - nickperera_soccer Noel Ott (SUI) - noelott Ozu Moreira (JPN) - ozumoreira Peyman Hosseini (IRN) - peymanhosseinii Rodrigo da Costa (BRA) - r9_rodrigo Ruben Batres (SLV) - ruben.batres Rui Coimbra (POR) - ruicoimbra Walid Mohammad (UAE) - walid.w10 As well as continuing to light up the sand with their incredible abilities, each one of these ambassadors will work alongside Beach Soccer Worldwide and its partners to grow the sport in their respective countries and around the world.Their tasks may include draws, clinics, presentations and press conferences as well as many more. The list is not closed and is subject to yearly review. BSWW Influencers Alongside the ambassadors, Beach Soccer Worldwide also
presented the BSWW Influencers, 10 beach soccer players who will be using their influence to inspire and assist the development of beach soccer in their countries and around the world. Our specially selected group transcends countries, continents, genders, ethnicities and languages… just like beach soccer, and we are excited about having them onboard, as well as for all the awesome contributions they will make to the sport. These are the 2020 Beach Soccer Worldwide Influencers: Alba Mellado (ESP) - @albiitamee Brian Easler (USA) - @easlerbrian Dona (ESP) - @dona_beachsoccer Hamada Anwar Jabaren (ISR) - @hmadaanwarjabaren Kamila Komisarczyk (POL) - @kamcia_19 Letícia Villar (BRA) - @lelevillar Luca Addarii (ITA) - @addarii21 Natalia Pedrini (BRA) - @pedrininatalia Nathalia Andrea Murillo (COL)- @natyymc Regina Tello (MEX) - @reginatello_ Make sure you follow them all!
64 - INSIDE BEACH SOCCER
BSWW & UNAOC
BEACH SOCCER WORLD WIDE AND UNITED NATIONS SIGN AGREEMENT TO PROMOTE UNAOC’S ONE HUMANITY CAMPAIGN
B
each Soccer World Wide and the United Nations have teamed up to promote UN Alliance Of Civilizations’ campaign, One Humanity., becoming the first sports organisation in the world to do so and opening the doors for many more to come. This partnership agreement highlights BSWW’s commitment to fight for integration both on and off the pitch. As the leading United Nations platform for intercultural and interfaith dialogue, UNAOC’s aim is to improve understanding and cooperation between nations and peoples across all cultures and to reduce polarization at local and international events. At the same time, it encourages the development of more inclusive
societies, in which diversity is celebrated as an asset, and this is the perfect definition of what the beach soccer universe is. The world of beach soccer itself is an example of an increasingly integrated community of members from every corner of the globe, uniting different cultures, religions and origins, under the umbrella of a single shared passion: the will to be a part of the beach soccer family. The High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, highlighted the significant step this partnership represents: “This agreement with Beach Soccer World Wide means our first agreement within the world of sports, what means a very important step. We are already working
“This is a key step; sports are a powerful channel to spread the word” (Miguel Ángel Moratinos UNAOC High Representative)
and have stablished conversations to integrate other competitions, clubs and entities into our project, and I am sure we will have many more on board soon, because we strongly believe that sports are a powerful channel to spread the message”. In a similar vein, Joan Cusco, president of Beach Soccer World Wide, highlighted the similar perspectives that the two entities share in this matter: “As a sport, we feel very aligned with UNAOC’s vision, in that we embrace integration as key for the common growth of the human race. Our community is very heterogenous, very rich in diversity, and it is
precisely what makes us global, what makes us a family. This is why we are really happy and proud to bear the One Humanity flag, and we will help it fly high within our world”. The UNAOC and Beach Soccer World Wide agreement includes a set of activities and concepts, including a One Humanity video campaign that will be showcased in different channels and events globally, and which can be watched here: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=MjTdUj32bdk Beginning with the next international beach soccer competition, the Mundialito de Clubes. UNAOC will have a visible presence at the event in the Russian capital, which will be held between 12 and 16 February.
68 - INSIDE BEACH SOCCER
“Sport is a Universal language that gets people together” (Joan Cuscó)
BSWW & UNAOC
JOAN CUSCÓ APPOINT ADVISOR FOR SPORT B
each Soccer Worldwide President Joan Cuscó has been appointed as UNAOC Advisor for Sport by High Representative Miguel Ángel Moratinos, as communicated by UNAOC last week. Thanks to his expertise in the world of sport and his profound knowledge of sporting events and communications, Mr. Cuscó has been deemed the ideal candidate to lead the sporting strategy of UNAOC’s One Humanity campaign. Mr. Moratinos sees the BSWW president as the most suitable person to take the lead in spreading the word of togetherness, inclusion and respect through the medium of sport. In days like these, the concept of “One Humanity” is more important than ever, and the world of sport is a very powerful platform to reach the people across the globe and transmit the message that
we are all together, we are all the same, and only through unity we can overcome the difficulties we encounter. In the appointment letter sent to Mr. Cuscó, Mr. Moratinos highlights that “Today, as the world grapples with addressing the impact of COVID19 pandemic, this concept of “One Humanity” is even more relevant than ever before. The rise in stigma and hate speech against vulnerable communities is particularly concerning as it leads to the fragmentation of our society. Promoting diversity and building inclusive societies is imperative if we are to succeed in creating a peaceful and inclusive societies”. “In this context, I believe that sports, music and all forms of human expressions are viable tools in the Alliance toolbox that will help
TED AS UNAOC’S S in our mission of bringing people together as One Humanity”, it continues. Mr. Cuscó, whose creativity and result-oriented mentality were considered by UNAOC’s representatives, has already been working for weeks in reaching out to sports leaders and organisations from all over the world to encourage them to join the “One Humanity” campaign, and many valuable agreements have been reached, as well as very positive feedback from top-level clubs, federations and institutions. Clubs and institutions have shown great interest in being a part of this global movement, and the first results will be made public very soon. In turn, BSWW president highlighted that he is honoured to having been given such a task: “the world of sport has a lot to say in this project. Sport is a universal language that gets people together,
and its voice is powerful and valuable to spread the message. We need to make the most of all the intrinsic values sport has to unite people”, he said. The One Humanity campaign, of which some visual content has already been released on Beach Soccer Worldwide’s official platforms after the agreement made last February, will continue to produce content and involving the most important agents in the world of sport to make sure all athletes, fans and sports personnel play their role in transmitting the “One Humanity. Many Cultures” message. Indeed, many international sports federations and clubs are already designing contents and campaigns with which they plan to adhere to the “One Humanity” movement, and we will be seeing many of them in the coming months.
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The new state-of-the-art stadium in Chișinău has a capacity of 1024 spectators
BEACH SOCCER STADIUM IN MOLDOVA CLOSE TO COMPLETION T
he Moldovan Football Association have made another important step in their growth within beach soccer, by building a magnificent permanent stadium in Chisinau. The new arena, located by the lake in the La Izvor park, with a capacity of 1024 spectators (and the potential to extend it by 500 more) is a state-of-the-art facility that includes dressing rooms, offices and other administrative rooms. The Moldovan Football Federation (FMF), with the collaboration of FIFA and the Chisinau Municipality are the responsible parties of this project, always assisted by the supervision and advice of Beach Soccer World Wide. “Currently, the Moldovan Football Federation is in the final stage of the construction of the new beach soccer stadium in the “La Izvor” Park of Buiucani sector, in Chisinau municipality.”, FMF President Leonid Oleinicenco explained beachsoccer.com. “This project is very important for the development of beach soccer in Moldova. This will be the first arena of its kind in our country. For the future FMF will continue to support this football-derived branch, especially as beach soccer is becoming increasingly popular in the Republic of Moldova”, he concluded. Joan Cuscó, Beach Soccer World Wide president, praised the strategic step made by the Moldovan FA. The Moldovan FA have shown a great commitment with beach soccer, and we hope many other federations copy that initiative, as having permanent stadiums is one of the most effective ways to strengthen the growth of the sport”, he said.
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LET’S TALK ABOUT BEACH SOCCER T
he sporting world has suffered hugely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and beach soccer was no exception. However, the fact that everyone had to stay at home for many months opened up a whole new world of opportunities... With competitions on hold, we had to get creative and create alternative ways to keep our beach soccer community active, evolving and learning during difficult times. One of these projects was the introduction of a brand-new feature, the Beach Soccer Talks series, a weekly live session (reduced to monthly after lockdown restrictions were eased) about a chosen topic from within beach soccer, hosted by one of the experts at the top of the game. Each expert host is joined by a panel of around four key figures of the beach soccer community, who were hand-picked specifically to best analyse and discuss the topic of the episode. The series was kicked off by the Spanish beach soccer legend, arguably the best player of all time, Ramiro Amarelle, who picked apart the 2020 Mundialito de Clubes, held in Moscow back in February. Other episodes focused on the Euro Winners Cup, the Women’s Euro Beach Soccer Cup and Beach Soccer Referees, hosted by a wide array of experts. The Talks are held on Thursday, usually at 4pm GMT and broadcast live on the BSWW Facebook channel, and the good news is that all of the episodes we have released so far are available for you to watch right now! Just head to facebook.com/beachsoccerworldwide and then go to the ‘Live’ section. You can also check all the previous Beach Soccer Talks in our You Tube channel (youtube.com/beachsoccerworldwide). Below you can find the list of episodes with their host and subject in case you missed any of them. Most of the Talks last for well over and hour and are jammed-packed full of fascinating insights and beach soccer info from behind the scenes. Episode 1 – Ramiro Amarelle: Mundialito de Clubes Moscow 2020 Episode 2 – Ross Ongaro: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019 Episode 3 – Perry Northeast: Women’s Euro Beach Soccer Cup Nazare 2019 Episode 4 – Francis Farberoff: Women’s Euro Winners Cup Nazare 2019 Episode 5 – Bruno Malias: Intercontinental Cup Dubai 2019 Episode 6 – Tighe O’Sullivan: Women’s World Winners Cup Episode 7 – Marcelo Mendes: How to Develop Beach Soccer Case Study 1 Episode 8 – Marcelo Mendes: How to Develop Beach Soccer Case Study 2 Episode 9 – Angelo Schirinzi: Euro Winners Cup Nazare 2019 Episode 10 – BSWW SEASON UPDATE Episode 11 – Serdar Akçer: Beach Soccer Referees
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COMPARING THE BEAUTIFUL GAMES:
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FOOTBALL AND BEACH SOCCER BY MARK PENDERGAST, BEACH SOCCER TV COMMENTATOR
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each soccer is football in reverse, let me explain, it’s where the simple is extraordinarily difficult, and the extraordinary looks simple. Case in point; an overhead kick is routine, but a 10-metre pass along the ground is nigh on impossible.
marathon by half time, leaving them close to collapse. The result is goals galore, an adoring fan base and more silverware than one of Queen Elizebeth’s state banquets.
The more beach soccer develops, the more this is true. You don’t need to take my word for it we have the stats to back it up. The FIFA report on the 2019 World Cup in Paraguay makes for intriguing reading and proves what works in football, well you can do the complete opposite in beach soccer and expect success.
Sand is the enemy of tika taka. Did you ever see Barcelona training on the beach? If you start passing the ball on the sand then suddenly playing pinball by the sea! The ball develops a mind of its own as it pings side to side, leaving the recipient preparing to use a random body surface anywhere between little toe and forehead to control the ball.
Tika taka, invented by Barcelona (so they keep telling us), if done well, it works like a dream, lure your opponents in, tire them out, find the gap and then attack. When executed well not only is it glorious to watch, but your opponents feel like they have run a
So let’s do the beach soccer flip, less passes mean more goals. Brazil managed fifteen goals with zero passes! “How?!”, I hear you cry; well goal-scoring keepers and free kicks are largely responsible. Portugal, the champions, were the most tiki-taka of all teams,
“In beach soccer, the simple is extraordinarily difficult, and the extraordinary looks simple”
scoring the majority of their goals from just two passes! It’s not exactly in Barca territory and proves when it comes to passing the ball, less is more. The overhead kick on a grass pitch is like being upgraded on an airline, rare, special and happens when you least expect it. However, it’s routine on the sand. The World Cup saw around 450 overhead kicks in 32 games, a huge 14 per match or one every two and a half minutes! It doesn’t always mean a goal, but when Italy play it usually does, they popped up with eight goals in the tournament, four times as many as their nearest rivals. In the 11-a-side game, there is an old adage that you never change a winning team. In beach soccer, it’s different, you immediately change a winning team! When a goal is scored more often than
not, the scorer will immediately depart the sand usually followed by his teammates. The stats from the FIFA World Cup state the most successful teams change the entire outfield team deliberately and often. The reasons are simple, tactics are straightforward, so interchanges are easy to execute, it allows the intensity to be maintained, and the team on the sand always remains fresh. The wholesale changes would be frowned upon elsewhere, but in Beach Soccer the ability to change in the blink of an eye is a massive advantage. The sand variation of football shares it’s DNA with the beautiful game, but in other ways it’s totally different, and with its unique quirks, somehow it has become more beautiful.
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WHY BEACH SOCCER BRIGHT FUTURE IN
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ou may have seen a lot of beach soccer activity in Belgium on social media over the last few weeks; that’s because they have been very busy, working hard to build a bright future for our sport and inspiring the next generation, as well as existing football clubs and athletes. Royal Excel Mouscron, whose season was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, finished the Belgian first division in a respectable tenth place and have now become the first professional football club in Belgian’s top league to commit to a future in beach soccer. Actually, we cannot imagine a better way to cellebrate their 100th anniversary in 2022... The club now has teams in youth categories, all the way from Under-10s to Under-21s, and they are training regularly. More good news is that the national team is looking likely to be
reestablished soon, as Jeremy Chojnowski from Beach Soccer Belgium told us: “We are working with all the departments and our common goal is to revive the Red Sands as soon as possible, and be a part of the Euro Beach Soccer League shortly.” Chojnowski has been one of the key players in the boost in beach soccer activity in Belgium, which has seen research being carried out in order to encourage football teams to incorporate beach soccer into their clubs. “Over the past two years, it has been shown and demonstrated that there is a perfect complementarity between football and beach soccer.”, he states. “We carried out extensive research in order to convince important football community leaders by using strong sporting and financial arguments. We discussed it with RCS Brainois (a Division 3 club)
R HAS A BELGIUM
Royal Excel Mouscron become the first top-flight club to form beach soccer teams in Belgium
in order to carry out a pilot project in their football club with 500 youngsters. The idea is to install a soccer field within the football club, to give introduction classes to all the young players of all categories at the club but also to the participants of the multi-sports training courses in the city of Braine l’Alleud.” “The project was a huge success! We conducted a survey of young people (both boys and girls) and parents, and it turned out that more than 80% wanted to join the beach soccer club.” As a result of the findings, the team put together a list of concrete benefits of incorporating beach soccer into a football club, including the increase in turnover and number of members due to an increase in visitors to the facilities, extending the months the club is active from nine to 12, providing young people with a summer
activity when the football season finishes, helping players improve the technical and physical capacities (Explosiveness, balance, ball control etc.), and also helping players recover from injuries. With these solid arguments, Jeremy and the team began to approach the big clubs in Belgian football, with their ideas, and they are already seeing the results. “Royal Excel Mouscron is the first pro club to trust us and is already proud of it. Today we have pitches in three football clubs, and are in advanced discussions with 12 others. We want to help all the other countries in the world to convince football as we do in Belgium.” There are giant steps being taken in the small country to develop beach soccer, and it is genuinely exciting to see such advances being made in Belgium. How is beach soccer being developed in your country?
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A National Beach Soccer championship will be followed by the creation of the National Team
MALTA: A NEW BEACH SOCCER DESTINATION B
ig beach soccer waves are being made on the small Mediterranean island of Malta. The country has everything that a top beach soccer location would require and it seems they are keen to start taking advantage of these qualities. The Malta Beach Soccer Association was launched on Friday with its newly-appointed president Pio Vassallo outlining his vision for beach soccer and its contribution to the country’s sporting culture. During a press conference organized by the Malta Beach Soccer Association on Friday, Mr. Vassallo spoke about the vision and mission of the association. “Our mission is to embrace and pass on the sports values to others, while developing the game of beach soccer through the organization and management of high quality local and international tournaments in accordance with the strategies of the Malta Football Association”, said Vassallo while addressing the media present. “With the help of Sports Malta and the Malta Football Association, I believe we can make Malta an international destination for beach soccer”, he added. Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organizations, Dr. Clifton Grima, expressed his satisfaction and committed that the government will be part of this journey for the future of this sport in Malta. Malta Football Association vice-president, Dr. Matthew Paris, said that the country has a great potential for beach soccer and also for sports tourism in general since Malta, being located in the centre of Mediterranean Sea with its sandy beaches and sunny months, has all the ideal attributes to organise such tournaments and events. The first official event for beach soccer will be the Nestlè Beach Soccer Cup, a domestic tournament held at Pretty Bay in Birzebbuga between August 27th and September 6th. The beach soccer association hopes to establish a national team that will eventually compete in international competitions such as the Euro Beach Soccer League and the Mediterranean Games. After several difficult months, positive news such as these recent developments in Malta and from across the beach soccer world show that the sport’s future is bright indeed.
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He was one of the officials to referee the final of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, EBRAHIM! UAE INTERNATIONAL REFEREE AL-MANSOURI RETIRED AFTER MORE THAN 20 YEARS TO JOIN UAEFA REFEREE COMMITTEE
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mirati international beach soccer referee Ebrahim AlMansoori has officially retired from refereeing, as he announced recently. After more than 20 years of refereeing career, in which he took part in four FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups, and also being honored with the UAE Sports Innovation Award, AlMansouri calls it a day. This does not mean that he will leave football and beach soccer behind though, though, as he has become a member of the UAEFA Referee Committee. Al-Mansouri told Emirates Today, “I am satisfied with myself, and I feel very happy for the role I played over all these years, and I am proud to be the only Emirati and Arab referee to have taken part in four World Cups”. Actually, he was one of the officials in the final of the 2017 World Cup, held in Bahamas, which also got him the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Sports Innovation in 2018. Al-Mansouri has been a first-hand witness and overseer of beach soccer development by the UAE, something he also highlights: “The UAE have projected beach soccer internationally with great success, showing their trust in the sport and also their excellent job, which we have seen both in the 2009 World Cup and the annual Intercontinental Cup hosted by Dubai Sports Council. The UAE are today an example of how to develop and empower beach soccer, and it is something we all need to be very proud of, something we are globally know for”, he said. Talking about his retirement, Ibrahim said that it was just the right time to say goodbye to his biggest passion. “I made this decision with the absolute conviction that I have given everything that I could to help develop not only beach soccer, but also futsal and football, and it is now the time to let others have their opportunity.”, he said. After having him on the sand since 1998, it will be strange not seeing Ibrahim down on the pitch at the Intercontinental Cup in his home country, or the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup... Good luck in your next adventure, Ebrahim, and thank you for your commitment over all these years!
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