About the Tour

The Tour Concept

The European Footvolley League 2019 will start with three qualification tournaments in these cities:

• Graz, Austria 🇦🇹(30.05.2019-01.06.2019)

• Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany 🇩🇪(14.06.2019-16.06.2019)

• Albufeira, Portugal 🇵🇹(12.07.2019-14.07.2019).

The main goal in the three qualification tournaments is to collect ranking points and to ensure being part of the 12 best ranked nations that are invited to the European Footvolley Championship in Lucerne, Switzerland 🇨🇭(23.08.2019-25.08.2019).

The EFVL has 15 member nations in the 2019 season, and to make it a 16 team tournament the host nation will be awarded a second team to participate in every qualification tournament. After the qualification tournaments are finished the three best ranked nations will be entitled to send two teams to the final.

READ MORE: Have a look at our tournament calendar

The Tournament System

The tournament system is a system widely used in Portugal and it is a 16 team tournament format constructed to make sure there are a lot of close and entertaining games throughout the tournament. This is done by putting equally ranked teams in the same groups. The 8 top ranked teams are divided into group A and B and the 8 bottom ranked teams are divided into group C and D.

After the group games the two best teams of group C and D will face the two worst teams of group A and B in a qualification game for the quarter finals.

To make sure the teams do not speculate who they will face in the quarter finals, there will be a separate draw before the eight finals start.

All 15 member nations will have a spot in the ranking tournaments and all 15 member nations will send their best team(s) - either based on the national ranking, the national championship or national qualification tournaments.

The European Championship

Only the top 12 nations will be invited to the European Championship in Lucerne, Switzerland 🇨🇭in a 16 team competition. Aside from the 12 top ranked nations there will also be one extra spot for the host plus the second teams of the three best ranked nations after the three qualification tournaments in 2019.

2019 Ranking

To figure out the ranking for the first qualification tournament we have used the rankings from the 2018 European Championship in Graz 🇦🇹. There has never been placement games in the EFC, so in case of equal placement we have used the placements from 2017 and 2016 to separate the teams.

In case of tie breaks between nations we have separated them with the following tie breakers:

1. Group placement (first 2018, second 2017, third 2016)

2. Match wins (first 2018, second 2017, third 2016)

3. Head to head (first 2018, second 2017, third 2016)

4. Point difference (first 2018, second 2017, third 2016)

Ranking# - Member nation (placement 2018) - (placement 2017 and 2016)

Important requirements

Here is a list of important requirements for each nation:

1. Every nation must attend minimum 2 qualifiers, out of 3, to be eligible to play in the EFC in Luzerne. If a nation is not able to attend more than 1 qualifier they will not be invited to play in the EFC in Lucerne (if they rank among the top 12 teams). If the nation is among the 12 top ranked teams the next team in the ranking (13th) will be invited.

2. If a nation does not show up in a qualifier the host nation will enter one extra team into the tournament. This team will be placed in the bottom of the ranking.

3. The top ranked team (both players together) from a nation must attend minimum 1 qualifier to be able to play in the EFC in Luzerne. If not, the EFVL must be notified as soon as possible if this scenario is happening. This could for example be due to injuries. The EFVL competition group will make a final ruling.

4. All players must have a passport for the nation they represent in the EFC. The only exception is if the player is in the process of getting a passport. .