Campeonato de Futebol de Praia

The FPF Campeonato de Futebol de Praia (English: FPF Beach Soccer Championship) is a league competition for beach soccer clubs in Portugal. Organised by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) who also established the championship in 2012,[1][2] it is the country's primary beach soccer club competition. The national league replaced a previous championship run by district associations as Portugal's paramount club tournament.[1]

Campeonato de Futebol de Praia
Founded2012 (2012)
CountryPortugal
ConfederationUEFA
DivisionsCampeonato Elite
Campeonato Nacional
Number of teams8 (Elite)
26 (National)
Level on pyramid1–2
Domestic cup(s)Taça de Portugal Futebol Praia
International cup(s)Euro Winners Cup
Euro Winners Challenge
Current championsBraga
Most championshipsBraga (9 titles)
WebsiteOfficial website

Held between May and September, the season is divided into two parts: the regular season followed by the post-season, with matches taking place across Portugal.[1] Many of the world's best players compete in the championship.

Currently, the competition consists of two divisions: the Elite Championship, the top tier, disputed by the eight best teams who compete for the title – the winners are crowned league champions – and the National Championship, the second tier, open to all other clubs who compete for two promotion spots to the top division.[1]

The top three teams qualify for the upcoming edition of the Euro Winners Cup (EWC); as of 2020, the league is ranked as the strongest in Europe by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW).[3]

Braga are the most successful club with eight titles and are the current champions.

Previous national championships

The first incarnation of a national championship for Portuguese beach soccer clubs with recognition was originally known as the Liga de Clubes de Futebol de Praia[4] and later the Campeonato Elite de Futebol de Praia,[5] which ran from 2005–2011.[1][6][7] However, it was not arranged by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF); the league was established as a result of cooperation between a number of District Football Associations (that of Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria, Santarém, Lisbon, Setúbal and Algarve).[1][8]

In 2010, a second national league competition was also established which ran for two seasons, known as the Circuito Nacional de Futebol de Praia; unlike the former, this championship received the "institutional support" of the FPF however was still not organised by them – it was run by an independent event organiser.[9][10]

Results table
Year Winners Runners-up Ref. Year Winners Runners-up Ref.
Campeonato Elite de Futebol de Praia Circuito Nacional de Futebol de Praia
2005 Porto Sporting CP —
2006 Benfica Sporting CP
2007 Benfica União de Leiria
2008 Vitória de Setúbal União de Leiria
2009 União de Leiria Rio Ave
2010 Vitória de Setúbal Porto 2010 Sporting CP Benfica
2011 Sporting CP Vitória de Guimarães 2011 Vitória de Guimarães Sporting CP
Note: The 2010 Elite tournament was still considered the primary national event at the time[6] as it took place before the inaugural Circutio season later in 2010;
so both are considered national championship results.[11] In 2011, with the Circutio now established, it was viewed as the main national championship, with the 2011 Elite tournament losing its prestige and
being seen as simply a warm up event for the upcoming Circutio league season.[12]

During this time, there were calls for the FPF to establish their own, official championship.[13] The FPF ultimately started the Campeonato Nacional de Futebol de Praia as the first official national league (that is to say, run by the country's national association) in 2012, superseding the above two de facto national championships which ceased.[1]

Format

As of 2019; current format introduced in 2015 (with minor revisions since).[1][14][15][16]

Overview

The championship consists of two championships/divisions; clubs can move between the divisions through a system of promotion and relegation:

  1. Campeonato Elite (Elite Championship): the top tier, containing the eight best clubs. The teams in this division aim to win the title and avoid relegation.
  2. Campeonato Nacional (National Championship): the lower tier, containing all other clubs of lesser quality that choose to enter the competition that season (26 teams in 2019), split into three geographical conferences (north, central and south zones) with approximately ten clubs in each. The teams in this division aim to be promoted to the Elite Championship.

Both championships are played in two phases; a regular season (May through August) and a post-season (August/September).

Elite Championship
  • Regular season: The clubs play each other once (playing a total of seven matches each) over the course of seven match-days. On each match-day, the fixtures are held in one neutral location in which all eight clubs gather to contest their scheduled matches. This location changes each match-day. Points are earned for the championship table by winning matches.
At the end of the regular season, the top four teams, those occupying positions 1–4 in the table with the most points, advance to the Finals. The bottom four teams, those occupying positions 5–8 in the table with the least points, proceed to the relegation play-offs.
  • Post-season: All eight clubs gather in one location for three consecutive days to compete in the post-season phase.
Finals: The four clubs play each other in a round robin format (playing a total of three matches each). The club with the most points at the completion of all fixtures are crowned league champions.
Relegation play-offs: The four clubs play each other in a round robin format (playing a total of three matches each). The two clubs with the most points at the completion of all fixtures retain their place in the Elite Championship for next season. The two clubs with the least points at the completion of all fixtures will be relegated to the National Championship for next season.

National Championship
  • Regular season: The clubs play exclusively against the other members of their own conference, once (playing a total of nine matches each), over the course of nine match-days. On each match-day, the fixtures are held in three locations; one in the north, central and south of Portugal, in which all ten clubs of the corresponding conference gather together to contest their scheduled matches. Points are earned for their tables by winning matches. At the end of the regular season, the top two teams in each conferences, plus the best two third-place teams (total of eight clubs) advance to the Finals.
  • Post-season: All eight clubs gather in one location for three consecutive days (the same location and dates as the Elite Division post-season events). The eight clubs play each other in a knockout tournament. The two clubs that reach the final are promoted to the Elite Championship for next season; the six clubs knocked out will remain in the National Championship for next season. The winners of the final are crowned National Championship winners.

Clubs
Locations of where the 2019 Elite Division clubs originate () and the host venues ().
Campeonato de Futebol de Praia is located in Madeira
Nacional
Nacional
Madeira based Elite clubs

As of 2019[17]

Key
■ – promoted at the end of 2019
■ – relegated at the end of 2019

Venues

Scheduled for use during the 2019 season for the Elite Division:[18]

Results

Elite Championship

The following lists the winners and runners-up of the top tier; the former are crowned Portuguese league champions.

Season Winners Runners-up Ref.
2012 Belenenses ACD O Sótão
2013 Braga Estoril Praia
2014 Braga Sporting CP
2015 Braga Sporting CP
2016 Sporting CP Braga
2017 Braga Sporting CP
2018 Braga Sporting CP
2019 Braga Sporting CP
2020 Sporting CP Braga
2021 Braga Casa Benfica de Loures
2022 Braga Casa Benfica de Loures
2023 Braga ACD O Sótão

Note: From 2010–2014 there was only one division comprising the league. Those results have been included as de facto Elite Division results.

Performance by club
Team Titles Runners-up Years won Years runner-up
Braga922013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 20232016, 2020
Sporting CP252016, 20202014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
Belenenses102012–
Casa Benfica de Loures02–2021, 2022
ACD O Sótão02–2012, 2023
Estoril Praia01–2013

National Championship

The second tier was introduced in 2015;[1] the following lists the winners and runners-up. Both are promoted to the top tier.

Season Winners Runners-up Ref.
2015 Varzim Casa Benfica de Loures
2016 Nacional Vila Franca Rosario
2017 Leixões Varzim
2018 Alfarim Sesimbra
2019 ACD O Sótão GD Chaves
2020 Varzim Buarcos 2017
2021 Leixões São Domingos de Setúbal
2022 GD Chaves Belenenses
2023 AD Nazaré 2022 Vila Flor SC

Performance by club
Team Titles Runners-up Years won Years runner-up
Varzim212015, 20202017
Leixões202017, 2021–
GD Chaves1120222019
Nacional102016–
Alfarim102018–
ACD O Sótão102019–
AD Nazaré 2022102023–
Casa Benfica de Loures01–2015
Vila Franca Rosario01–2016
Sesimbra01–2018
Buarcos 201701–2020
São Domingos de Setúbal01–2021
Belenenses01–2022
Vilar Flor SC01–2023

Performance at the Euro Winners Cup

The Euro Winners Cup (EWC), held every May/June since 2013, is a competition contested by the best teams from Europe's domestic beach soccer leagues to determine a European club champion.

A club's final league position determines their qualification route to the EWC.[19] The following table shows the history of qualification opportunities for Portuguese clubs:

Qualification history
Year Final league position Total clubs
qualified
1st 2nd 3rd 4th & below
2013–16 A n/a 1
2017–18 A PR 1+
2019– A PR 3+

Key: Qualification is...

A Green tickY Automatic.
PR  Possible; club eligible to enter the preliminary round.
n/a Red XN Not possible.

(Host club also qualifies automatically; From 2013–18,
host country's league runners-up also qualified automatically.)

The following documents the performances of Portuguese clubs that have qualified for the EWC:

Key
CChampionsRound of 16
2ndRunners-upR32Round of 32
3rdThird placeGSGroup stage
4thFourth Place•Did not participate
Quarter-finalsHost club / country
Team \ Years 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Total
ACD O Sótão••••15thGSGS7th7thGS3rd7
ACD O Sótão Norte•••••••GSR32••2
Alfarim••••••GS••••1
BelenensesGS•••••••GS••2
Braga•3rd5th3rdCCC2nd2nd2nd6th10
Buarcos 2017••••••GS•R32GSR324
Caxinas••••••••GS••1
CB Loures•••••GSR32•15thC•4
CB Caldas da Rainha••••••••16th••1
Chaves••••••••GS••1
Costa Caparica••••••GS••••1
GR Amigos Paz•••••GS•GS12thGSGS5
Nacional••••GS•GS•GS•R324
Os Nazarenos•••••••11thGS••2
Porto Mendo••••••••GS••1
São Domingos•••••••••GS•1
Sesimbra••••••GS•GSGS•3
Sporting CP••••7th5th11th9thR3211th•6
Varzim••••••••R32GS•2
Vila Flor••••••••GS••1
Portuguese teams111145961795

References
  1. "CAMPEONATO NACIONAL HISTÓRIA" (in Portuguese). Futebol de Praia Portugal. Archived from the original on 2020-01-21. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. "Crescimento da competitividade" (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  3. "BSWW опубликовала рейтинги клубов мира по итогам сезона-2019" (in Russian). Beach Soccer Russia. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  4. "Benfica Vencedor da Liga de Clubes de Futebol de Praia 2007" (in Portuguese). Futebol de Praia Portugal. 1 July 2007. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  5. "Campeonato de Elite de Futebol de Praia" (in Portuguese). cm-matosinhos.pt. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  6. "V. Setúbal campeão na praia" (in Portuguese). Record. 27 June 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  7. "Sporting bate V. Guimarães e conquista o título de elite" (in Portuguese). Record. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  8. "Organização" (in Portuguese). lcfutpraia.com. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-08-26. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  9. "1º Circuito Nacional de Futebol de Praia 2010" (in Portuguese). CNFP2010.com. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-08-06. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  10. "Futebol de praia: Três grandes entram no Circuito Nacional" (in Portuguese). Record. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  11. "Sporting de Braga sagra-se campeão de futebol de praia" (in Portuguese). cmjornal.pt. 27 August 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  12. "Este Domingo, Vá À Praia! Vitória está na Final !" (in Portuguese). cmjornal.pt. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  13. "F. Praia: U. Leiria conquista título" (in Portuguese). Record. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  14. Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (20 March 2015). "CN Fut. Praia: Inscrições abertas". FPF.pt (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  15. "Campeonato Elite Futebol Praia Clubes Participantes E Formato Prova Epoca 2018/19" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  16. "Campeonato Nacional Futebol Praia Formato Prova Epoca 2018/19" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  17. "EQUIPAS" (in Portuguese). Futebol de Praia Portugal. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  18. "DIVISÃO ELITE INICIA SÁBADO" (in Portuguese). Futebol de Praia Portugal. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  19. "Euro Winners Cup HISTÓRIA" (in Portuguese). Futebol de Praia Portugal. Archived from the original on 2020-01-21. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
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