2001 Euro Beach Soccer League
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 1 June – 2 September |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 7 (in 7 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Spain (3rd title)
|
| Runners-up |
 Portugal
|
| Third place |
 Italy
|
| Fourth place |
 France
|
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 40 |
| Goals scored | 441 (11.03 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Madjer
|
| Best player |
Amarelle
|
| Best goalkeeper |
Roberto Valeiro |
The 2001 Euro Beach Soccer League, was the fourth edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL), the premier beach soccer competition contested between European men's national teams, known as the European Pro Beach Soccer League at the time, occurring annually since its establishment in 1998. The league was organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) between June 1 and September 2, 2001 in seven different nations across Europe.
In 2001, BSWW introduced major changes to the EBSL. No longer would the stages of fixtures be played as small knockout tournaments; this was changed to having the stages played in a round robin format, with the results tallied up in a table to determine the winners of the stage. The bonus points awarded in previous years for being stage winners and runners-up was also scrapped. Teams now earned points for the league table solely on match wins.
2001 also saw the introduction of the famous Superfinal play-off event, seen in every edition since. The league champions were no longer to be determined after all the stages were complete based on the league table. Instead, it was decided from this edition forward, the teams with the most points at end of the stages are to qualify for the newly founded season-finale playoffs in which the title is then to be contested directly. The winner of the Superfinal then becomes league champions.
This season, whilst the teams remained part of one overall cohort, they were split into two groups. Each team competed in their respective group to try and earn a place in the season-finale event, the Superfinal.
Spain entered the competition as two-time defending champions and successfully defended their title, to win their third European crown.
The league also doubled as the qualification process for the 2002 Beach Soccer World Championship. The nations finishing in first, second and third place qualified.
This season 8 nations took part in the Euro Beach Soccer League whom were and were distributed as follows.
For the inaugural Superfinal, there were four berths available to the top four teams with the most points in the league at the end of the regular season, after all the stages of fixtures were complete. This successful quartet advanced to the season-finale playoff event to contest for the league title. The table summarises in what positions nations needed to finish in their respective groups in order to qualify to the Superfinal.
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