11 minute read
THE GENIUS IN THE BOTTLES
How the Dutch women’s national team did all it takes to be a part of the first-ever Women’s Euro Beach Soccer League
Beach soccer never ceases to amaze us with stories of people that make our sport a consistently better place. It is these these people and their actions which set beach soccer apart, and shows how strong their love for the sport really is.
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The results were not the ones they expected, but the experience was worth all the efforts.
This year we discovered a behind-the-scenes story of the Netherlands women’s national team, who put all their time and resource into being able to take a part in the first-ever Women’s Euro Beach Soccer League.
Playing at the maiden edition of the EBSL was their dream, a goal to work towards. The passion for the sport, the will to train and improve, and their commitment to the cause were never in doubt; the only issue financial support.
“So we decided to turn that problem into a challenge”.
And this is how the mission began. Thinking about big partners was not an option, but they had to think big, starting small...
Each player starting spreading the word, rallying essential support from family and friends, who made small contributions to make their beach soccer dream come true.
But that wouldn’t be enough, and that’s when Mariël Miedema came in with another idea: collecting bottles for cash. In the Netherlands, a recycling incentive was set up whereby you can receive a small amount on money (around 10 cents) for every bottle you return to the shop after use.
Mariël started a Facebook campaign to let everybody know that she wanted people’s bottles and that she would collect them from their houses... House by house, day by day, and thousands of bottles later, the dream was began to take shape and eventually became a reality - they were going to Nazaré!
No matter the challenges, this team was ready to work together towards a common goal. They had been training hard for months, without even knowing if they would make it to the comeptition.
“They insisted on training from the start. They wanted, so badly, to be ready.”, team manager, Maikel Schats, explains.
“I still remember during the first week of March, with temperatures hardly above 0ºC, they called me and said: ‘let’s start training this week!’ It was so cold, and the sand was freezing, but how could I tell them otherwise, seeing their spirit and their eagerness. I have so much respect for the girls and their attitude.” On top of the bitter weather conditions, the training facilities are hardly close by for some of the girls, who live far from Amsterdam, and have to travel two hours each way from their home cities like Heerenveen, Siegerswoude (near Drachten), Zwolle, Heerhugowaard or Terneuzen. If this isn’t a way to show your love for beach soccer, we don’t know what it is.
However, there were still more sacrifices to be made as when the competition approached. Some players, also had to juggle their professional lives to be able to compete, such as Nidia Bos, former professional footballer at Excelsior (Eredivisie), who had just took over the farm from her parents weeks before.
“It was difficult for me to go for a whole week. I had to do some changes and ask for some favours, but I didn’t want to miss the Euro Beach Soccer League.”, she explained.
Some of the girls have a two-hour train commute to the training ground
Once in Nazaré, the team had to continue to be careful with their budget, making sure they did not overspend. “We cooked our own breakfast and lunch, and bought groceries from the supermarket... With Maikel, it is very difficult to overspend”, they joke.
Luck was not on their side when it came to their results in the matches, but that does not mean they did not enjoy every single second of the experience, while competing at the highest level in this year’s Women’s Euro Beach Soccer League also offered invaluable experience to the players and teams.
“It was absolutely worth all the effort. It is so nice to play here and to be a part of this event”, they assured.
In this same sense, one of the most experienced players in the team, goalkeeper Jessica Overtoom, highlighted how the team had significantly improved after this period. “Training hard made us grow and learn a lot, in different aspects of the games, and also having been able to compete here made us stronger.”, she stated.
With their attitude, their grit, and their passion, there is no doubt this team will keep growing, aiming for yet higher goals in the seasons to come.
Kristall and Madrid CFF dominate Europe
Euro Winners Cup Nazaré 2021
The very best players in the world returned to the Portuguese coast to represent some of the top beach soccer sides in the battle for European supremacy, with Kristall claiming a record fourth time and Madrid CFF becoming the sixth club to clinch the Women’s Euro Winners Cup.
Kristall and Madrid CFF dominate Europe
The two teams topping the BSWW Ranking squared off in the final once again.
AAngelo Schirinzi’s Kristall were the defending champions, but no less that 49 clubs were ready to try and claim the crown, including three previous winners, Russian rivals Lokomotiv Moscow (who were named Mundialito champions later in the year), three-time Euro Winners Cup champions SC Braga of Portugal and Italians Viareggio.
Getting out of the group
The first step towards retaining their title and winning a record fourth fir Kristall was making the knockout stages, but a wobble on Day 1 saw them lose to the Spanish debutants, San Francisco, who were headed by none other than Ramiro Amarelle.
The Spaniards went on to top the group but Kristall made the Round of 32 as second place finishers.
Braga stormed through the first stages with an aggregate score of 23-2 to top Group L, while Lokomotiv topped their group too and Viareggio just managed to scrape through as one of the best third-place finishers.
A much improved local Nazaré side, ACD Sótão also didn’t drop a point to top the group, Kfar Qassem (ISR), Krylya Sovetov (RUS), Delta (RUS), Casa Benfica Loures (POR) and Spartak Varna (BUL) did the same.
Knockouts
The original number of 50 clubs from 16 different nations was slashed to 32 after the group stage, and then to 16 as each day’s matches saw the number drop and the quality increase. Viareggio were the first previous winners to fall, knocked out by Russian club Delta in the Round of 32, but the rest reached the quarter-finals, as well as the so far undefeated debutants, San Francisco.
Hosts ACD Sótão, Krylya Sovetov, Spartak Varna and the 2020 third-place finishers Real Münster (GER) also reached the final eight, but the Germans were the only ones to make it to the semi-final where they lost to Kristall.
San Francisco’s winning streak finally came to an end when they came up against Portuguese champions Braga, and with those results, yet another classic Euro Winners Cup final between two old rivals was set…
Final Number Five
Another Euro Winners Cup final, another Kristall versus Braga. Each had played four Euro Winners Cup finals before, each had won three of them, meaning that their stalemate of titles won was about to be upset.
Kristall claim record fourth Euro Winners Cup title
The fight for a record fourth European title got underway in fierce fashion, where physicality and speed were the themes of the opening period, but there were no goals.
The start of the second, however, was all about the Brazilians as Mauricinho hit two in quick succession to snatch the lead. Braga keeper Rafa Padilha wasn’t far behind him with a rocket from his own area, and then a deflected Leo Martins shot looped over Maksim Chuzhkov to see the scores It wasn’t until the final period that a gap started to form between the two dominant clubs in Europe. The Russians of Kristall joined their Brazilian teammates on the scoresheet as Remizov, Paporotnyi and Shishin took the tally for Schirinzi’s men to five, while Braga hit a third through Filipe.
With Kristall in control, there was still time for one more goal, and it came in incredible style with just 52 seconds on the clock, where veteran Russian international Shishin leapt to catch an overhead volley from distance to take the final score to 6-3.
Individual brilliance
To add more trophies for the Saint Petersburg club, Mauricinho won his fourth – yes, fourth! – Euro Winners Cup MVP award, and Chuzhkov took home the Best Goalkeeper award.
They were joined in the award ceremony by an incredible breakthrough talent, Bernardo Lopes who had been representing Portuguese side GRAP. Lopes made his debut with the Portuguese national team a month previously, and netted no less than 18 goals in the 2021 Euro Winners Cup campaign – remember the name!
Meanwhile in the playoffs, Real Münster had reached their second third-place playoff in as many years, and they went up against Ramiro Amarelle’s San Francisco. In a thrilling match, the Spaniards came out on top to end their first ever Euro Winners Cup in an impressive third place.
Two Russian sides, Lokomotiv and Krylia Sovetov, faced off for fifth, and the Railwaymen
San Francisco (ESP) sealed their first participation with a third-place finish.
ran out narrow winners, while ACD O Sótão defeated Bulgarian side Spartak on penalties in the seventh-place playoff. Both sides recorded their best ever finish in the competition.
The story of beach soccer dominance in Europe is far from over, but advantage Kristall…
Madrid win first Women’s Euro Winners Cup
Mid-July saw the return of the top women’s beach soccer club competition in Europe, as 18 clubs from eight different nations descended on the sands of Nazaré, Portugal to do battle. Super Spaniards Madrid won the 2021 trophy, dethroning Mriya 2006 (UKR) who won the crown on their debut appearance in 2020.
67 clubs hurdled Covid-19 difficulties and took part in the event
The two clubs actually met in the group stages, where the Ukrainians came out on top after extra time, but despite this defeat, Madrid CFF kept their heads up to top the group and reach the knockout stages. The three group winners, as well as the best second-placed team, made the semi-finals in Nazaré and they were: 2018 champions WFC Zvezda (RUS), the Brazilian-bolstered Marseille Beach Team (FRA), debutants Bonaire Terrassa (ESP) and 2019 runners-up Madrid CFF (ESP).
Russian side Zvezda defeated Marseille, who had one of the world’s top three players Adriele from Brazil in their squad, by three goals to two to make the final, the first time they had done so since their title-winning campaign in 2018.
La Roja star Alba Mellado was instrumental for the Spaniards
In the other semi-final, it was a Spanish derby where the Catalan side Terrassa marked their first-ever Euro Winners Cup campaign with an impressive winning streak, but it came to an end at the hands of the Spanish rivals.
Madrid brushed aside Terrassa by scoring four goals, and three of them came from Alba Mellado who had been in incredible form throughout the tournament and really came through for her club when they needed her most. The final was a continuation of the Mellado show, as the number ten scored no less than four goals as Madrid beat Zvezda 6-3, and deservedly added their name to the growing list of Euro Winners Cup champions.
They not only added theirname, but could from 2019, where they reached the final of the competition and faced AIS Playas de San Javier. In that all-Spanish final, luck was not on Madrid’s side, who saw how their opponents from Murcia scaped with the trophy after a thrilling beach soccer battle. This time, the story was different, though, and Madrid are the new queens of Europe, becoming the second Spanish club to win the title.
Apart from that, the fact that six Women’s Euro Winners Cup editions have seen six difference winners is a true testament to the competitive nature of women’s beach soccer.
though, as Alba Mellado also took home the Top Scorer award thanks to her amazing 14 goals, while Anna Cherniakova won the MVP trophy and fellow Russian international Anna Akylbaeva, one of the most awarded players of the last seasons, won the Best Goalkeeper prize. One more to add to her personal cabinet, indeed...
In the playoff for third, Terrassa claimed one last victory by coming from behind to beat Marseille BT from the penalty spot, thus confirming their underdogs condition of this 2021 edition.
If global health conditions allow, let’s keep our fingers crossed, next 2022 the Women’s Euro Winners Cup will write a new historic chapter, and will strive to break the participation records to date.
Women’s Beach Soccer, at a clubs level (as well as at the National Teams level) has already demonstrated that it is ready, and willing, for bigger and more competitive events. And the Euro Winners Cup is one of those competitions with an interminable room for growth.
