The FPF Campeonato de Futebol de Praia (''

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: FPF Beach Soccer Championship'') is a league competition for

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...

clubs in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Organised by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) who also established the championship in 2012, 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. Held between May and September, the season is divided into two parts: the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

followed by the

post-season The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, with matches taking place across Portugal. 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. The top three teams qualify for the upcoming edition of the

Euro Winners Cup The Euro Winners Cup (EWC) is an annual, continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) fro ...

(EWC); as of 2020, the league is ranked as the strongest in Europe by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW). Braga are the most successful club with six titles. Sporting CP 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'' and later the ''Campeonato Elite de Futebol de Praia'', which ran from 2005–2011. 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 Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...

, Braga,

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Aveiro,

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

, Santarém,

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

and

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

). 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. During this time, there were calls for the FPF to establish their own, official championship. 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.

Format

''As of 2019; current format introduced in 2015 (with minor revisions since).''

Overview

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

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

: Both championships are played in two phases; a

(May through August) and a

(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 Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

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

''As of 2019''

Elite Championship

* Alfarim * Braga * CB Loures * GR Amigos Paz *

Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city i ...

* Nacional * Sesimbra * Sporting CP

National Championship

North zone

* Academia Elite Sport * Âncora Praia * Boavista * Chafé * Chaves * Salgueiros 08 * Varzim

Central zone

* ACD O Sótão * Belenenses * Biblioteca IR * Buarcos 2017 * CB Caldas Rainha * Chelas * Estoril Praia * GR Olival Basto * Porto Mendo * Sporting CP B

South zone

* Barreiro SZ * Charneca Caparica * Costa Caparica * Cova da Piedade * Marítimo * Praia Milfontes * Quinta do Conde * São Domingos * Zambujalense

Venues

Scheduled for use during the 2019 season for the Elite Division: *Praia de Buarcos,

Figueira da Foz Figueira da Foz (), also known as Figueira for short, is a city and a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. Practically at the midpoint of the Iberian Peninsula's Atlantic coast, it is located at the mouth of the Mondego River, west ...

(Matchday 1) *Praia Da Apulia,

Apúlia e Fão Apúlia e Fão is a civil parish in the municipality of Esposende, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Apúlia Apúlia is a town and a former civil parish in the municipality of Esposende, Portugal. In 2013, the pa ...

(Matchday 2) *Campo de Praia Foz do Arelho,

Foz do Arelho Foz do Arelho is one of twelve civil parishes ('' freguesias'') in the municipality of Caldas da Rainha Caldas da Rainha () is a medium-sized Portuguese city in the Oeste region, in the historical province of Estremadura, and in the distric ...

(Matchday 3) *Praia Do Ouro, Sesimbra (Matchday 4) *Parque Urbano Albarquel,

(Matchday 5) *Estádio Do Viveiro, Nazaré (Matchday 6 & Finals) *Estádio Desportos de Praia,

(Matchday 7)

Results

Elite Championship

The following lists the winners and runners-up of the top tier; the former are crowned Portuguese league champions. Note: From 2010–2014 there was only one division comprising the league. Those results have been included as ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' Elite Division results.

Performance by club

National Championship

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

Performance by club

Current season

2019

Performance at the Euro Winners Cup

The

(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. The following table shows the history of qualification opportunities for Portuguese clubs: The following documents the performances of Portuguese clubs that have qualified for the EWC:

Previous national championships

Format

Overview

Elite Championship

National Championship

Clubs

Elite Championship

National Championship

North zone

Central zone

South zone

Venues

Results

Elite Championship

Performance by club

National Championship

Performance by club

Current season

Performance at the Euro Winners Cup

References

External links