2018 Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer

2018 Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer
Tournament details
Host country	Brazil
Dates	26 November – 2 December
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Vitória (1st title)
Runners-up	Vasco da Gama
Third place	Sampaio Corrêa
Fourth place	Acassuso
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	274 (10.54 per match)

The 2018 CONMEBOL Libertadores de Beach Soccer was the third edition of the Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer (known natively in Spanish as the Copa Libertadores de Futbol Playa), an annual continental beach soccer club tournament contested primarily between the champions of the domestic leagues of South American nations who are members of CONMEBOL. A total of 12 clubs took part.

Announced on 31 May, the tournament took place between 26 November and 2 December in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1] It was organised by CONMEBOL in cooperation will local entities: the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and Brazil Beach Soccer Confederation (CBSB)[2] The event was originally due to take place in Belém, Pará State, Brazil[2] but a change of venue was announced on 23 October.[3]

Brazilians Vasco da Gama were the defending champions but finished as runners-up to fellow Brazilian club Vitória who claimed their first title.[4]

Format

As per Regulations Article 15,[5] the tournament starts with a group stage, played in a round robin format. The winners, runners-up and two best third placed teams from each group advance to the knockout stage, in which the teams then compete in single-elimination matches, beginning with the quarter-finals and ending with the final. A third-place deciding match is also contested by the losing semi-finalists.

Unlike the two previous editions, there are no consolation matches to decide 5th to 12th place; these placements are instead decided statistically (Regulations Articles 22 & 23).[5]

Teams

Twelve teams qualified; each domestic league champion from the ten South American nations which are members of CONMEBOL, plus an additional club from the host country and the defending champions.[5]

Association	Representatives
Argentina	Acassuso
Bolivia	Hamacas
Brazil¹	Vasco da Gama
	Sampaio Corrêa
	Vitória
Chile	Code Iquique

Association	Representatives
Colombia	La 25 Export
Ecuador	Delfin Sporting
Paraguay	Náutico Puerta del Lago
Peru	Academia Tito Drago
Uruguay	Bella Vista
Venezuela	Monagas Dífalo

1. Brazil entered three clubs: a. Vasco da Gama qualify as reigning champions, b. the Brazilian league champions, Sampaio Corrêa, c. the host country is also awarded an additional berth which went to the league runners-up, Vitória.[2]

Venue

Barra Olympic Park; the Olympic Tennis Centre is shown bottom right.	Rio de Janeiro Location of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil

One venue was used in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

All matches took place at a purpose built arena at Barra Olympic Park,[1] just outside the Olympic Tennis Centre.[6]

Squads

Each team had to submit a squad of 12 players, including a minimum of two goalkeepers (Regulations Article 33).[5]

Draw

The draw to split the twelve teams into three groups of four took place on 19 November at 19:00 local time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation.[1][7] The draw was conducted based on Regulations Article 16 as follows:[5]

Initially, three teams were seeded and assigned to the head of the groups (Vasco da Gama automatically, the others via a draw):

to Group A: 2017 Copa Libertadores champions, Vasco da Gama
to Group B: champions of the host association, Sampaio Corrêa
to Group C: club of the runner-up national association of the 2017 Copa Libertadores, Bella Vista

The remaining nine teams were split into three pots of three based on the final placement of their national association's club in the previous edition of the championship, with the highest seeds placed in Pot 1 down to the lowest placed in Pot 3 (the additional Brazilian team was also placed in Pot 3). From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A, the second team drawn placed into Group B and the final team drawn placed into Group C. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Náutico Puerta del Lago Monagas Dífalo Hamacas	Acassuso Delfin Sporting Code Iquique	Vitória Academia Tito Drago La 25 Export

Group stage

The match schedule was revealed on the day of the draw.[8]

Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams of each group, plus the two best ranked third-placed teams, advance to the quarter-finals. The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows (Regulations Article 21):[5]

points obtained in all group matches;

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above criterion, their rankings are determined as follows:

points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;
drawing of lots by CONMEBOL.

All times are local, BRST (UTC–2)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vasco da Gama	3	3	0	26	12	+14	9	Knockout stage
2	La 25 Export	3	2	1	14	18	−4	6
3	Náutico Puerta del Lago	3	1	2	21	20	+1	3
4	Delfin Sporting	3	0	3	13	24	−11	0

Source: CONMEBOL

26 November 2018	Vasco da Gama	10–7	Náutico Puerta del Lago
15:45		Report

26 November 2018	Delfin Sporting	5–7	La 25 Export
17:00		Report

27 November 2018	Vasco da Gama	7–3	Delfin Sporting
15:45		Report

27 November 2018	Náutico Puerta del Lago	4–5	La 25 Export
17:00		Report

28 November 2018	La 25 Export	2–9	Vasco da Gama
11:15		Report

28 November 2018	Náutico Puerta del Lago	10–5	Delfin Sporting
14:30		Report

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sampaio Corrêa	3	3	0	31	6	+25	9	Knockout stage
2	Hamacas	3	1	2	11	15	−4	3	Knockout stage
3	Academia Tito Drago	3	1	2	11	18	−7	3
4	Code Iquique	3	1	2	11	25	−14	3

Source: CONMEBOL

26 November 2018	Sampaio Corrêa	7–0	Hamacas
11:15		Report

26 November 2018	Code Iquique	5–3	Academia Tito Drago
14:30		Report

27 November 2018	Sampaio Corrêa	14–2	Code Iquique
11:15		Report

27 November 2018	Hamacas	3–4	Academia Tito Drago
14:30		Report

28 November 2018	Academia Tito Drago	4–10	Sampaio Corrêa
08:30		Report

28 November 2018	Hamacas	8–4	Code Iquique
09:45		Report

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vitória	3	2	1	0	16	9	+7	7	Knockout stage
2	Acassuso	3	1	0	2	11	14	−3	3
3	Bella Vista	3	1	0	2	15	16	−1	3
4	Monagas Dífalo	3	0	1	2	16	19	−3	1

Source: CONMEBOL

26 November 2018	Bella Vista	9–7	Monagas Dífalo
08:30		Report

26 November 2018	Acassuso	1–7	Vitória
09:45		Report

27 November 2018	Bella Vista	1–4	Acassuso
08:30		Report

27 November 2018	Monagas Dífalo	3–4	Vitória
09:45		Report

28 November 2018	Vitória	5–5 (a.e.t.) (3–2 p)	Bella Vista
15:45		Report

28 November 2018	Monagas Dífalo	6–6 (a.e.t.) (3–1 p)	Acassuso
17:00		Report

Ranking of third-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Náutico Puerta del Lago	3	1	2	21	20	+1	3	Knockout stage
2	C	Bella Vista	3	1	2	15	16	−1	3	Knockout stage
3	B	Tito Drago	3	1	2	11	18	−7	3

Source:

As per Regulations Article 17, it was decided the third place teams would take the following berths in the quarter-final draw:[5]

1st Group A vs 2nd best third place team
1st Group B vs Best third place team
1st Group C vs 2nd Group A
2nd Group B vs 2nd Group C

Knockout stage

The group winners, runners-up and two best third placed teams progressed to the knockout stage to continue to compete for the title.

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

30 November

Vasco da Gama	6
		1 December
Bella Vista	4
		Vasco da Gama	5
30 November
		Acassuso	4
Hamacas	2
				2 December
Acassuso	5
				Vasco da Gama	8 (2)
30 November
				Vitória (p)	8 (3)
Sampaio Corrêa	7
		1 December
Náutico Puerta del Lago	2
		Sampaio Corrêa	6 (2)
30 November
		Vitória (p)	6 (3)	Third place
Vitória	6
				2 December
La 25 Export	0
				Acassuso	4

				Sampaio Corrêa	5

Quarter-finals

30 November 2018