The men’s and women’s competitions kick off on Carcavelos Beach tomorrow.
A historic Beach Soccer Mundialito begins on Friday in Cascais as Portugal bid to retain their men’s title while six teams will seek to claim the inaugural women’s Euro Beach Soccer Cup crown.
Following the success of the first female Euro Winners Cup in Catania earlier this year, women’s beach soccer again takes a major stride here on Carcavelos Beach as Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Switzerland and England all compete alongside the best in the men’s game.
China and United States are the nations tasked with springing an upset against Portugal and Brazil – two countries who have traditionally dominated the tournament.
Between them, this year’s hosts and their South American rivals have won the competition 17 times – the latter on 12 of those occasions, most recently on their last appearance in 2011.
In Brazil’s absence, Portugal have won two of the last three events and finished second to Spain in 2013, with head coach Mario Narciso keen to extend their strong record on home sand.
Narciso said in the build-up to the tournament “We are facing great teams here, great champions so it’s going to be a very demanding event.
“At the same time, we are also looking forward as this is always one of the best events and an event where everybody wants to play, especially in front of our own people.
“I am very thankful that we have been given the opportunity to play such an event and we will do our best to make the most of it.
“This Mundialito is very important for us as we are facing very good teams and we want to keep improving ahead of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers in September.”
Captain Madjer added: “I am almost playing at home as this is pretty much my neighbourhood. I lived in Estoril during my childhood and this is the beach where I played beach soccer for the first time.
“This is also the beach I took my children to for the first time so it’s a very special and emotional moment for me, but I’m also focused on the task we have as we want to have a great event and some positive results.”
Narciso will hope to draw a similar level of quality from his players when he coaches the Portuguese women’s team, starting against the Netherlands on Friday morning.
The Group B clash between Greece and Switzerland gets the event underway at 10.15 local time while England and Spain make their bows against the Swiss and the Portuguese respectively on Saturday morning.
The action continues for the women on Saturday afternoon as Spain face Holland and England take on the Greeks in order to finalise the make-up of the three final games taking place on Sunday.
The two third-placed teams will meet to battle for fifth overall, while the runners-up face off for third place prior to the much-anticipated final at 11.00.
Fixtures, results and standings are available for both the men’s Mundialito and the women’s Euro Beach Soccer Cup.
