PISA – If the city hosts the Padel in the central Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, the Litorale also takes its space and does it in the best possible way, that is, by hosting one of the two groupsthe qualifiers for the Final Stages of the “International Beach Soccer Tour” which will take place from Wednesday 3rd to Sunday 7th July at the Beach Arena of the “Olympic Preparation Centre” in Tirrenia.
by Giovanni Manenti
The program was illustrated on Tuesday 2nd July at the Sala delle Baleari of Palazzo Gambacorti, in the presence of the Sports Councillor of the Municipality of Pisa Frida Shoeof the Technical Coordinator of the “CONI Center” of Tirrenia Enrico Sbardellaof the Head of the Blue Delegation Nando Arcopintoof the Technical Commissioner Emiliano DelDuca and the players Emmanuele Zurlo and Leandro Casapierirespectively Captain and goalkeeper of the Italian national team, to then arrange to meet again at 7:00 pm in Piazza dei Miracoli for the official presentation of the 12 participating teams.
The tournament formula provides for Division A – which Italy is part of, being among other thingsReigning European champions thanks to their 5-4 victory over Spain in the final played on 24 September 2023 – the division of the 8 teams registered into two distinct Groups, with the Group A composed of Italy, Estonia, Denmark and Czech Republic, while of the Group B includes Switzerland, France, Lithuania and Romaniawho will face each other between Wednesday and Friday, and then the first two of each group will access the semi-finals on Saturday with the first against the second pairings and whose winners will give life to the Final scheduled for Sunday 7th Julyafter the other challenges for the classification from third to eighth place have also been concluded.
The first six will qualify for the Final Stages scheduled for Alghero, a circumstance that should therefore be easily within the reach of the Azzurri – who we also recall are Vice World Champions having lost 6-4 against Brazil in the Final played on 25 February in Dubai – but winning the Tournament or at least reaching the Final takes on a fundamental importance with regards to the Ranking, on the basis of which the seeded players will be chosen in view of the draw for the final part of the Continental Review, while the other four national teams present in Tirrenia are part of Division B, whose tournament offers a place in the Alghero Finals with the winner also earning the right to play-off to advance to Division A.
An event, therefore, of significant importance both for the tourist and sporting attraction of our coast and for CONI, as clarified Enrico Sbardella, Technical coordinator of the Tirrenia Structure: “This tournament represents a great satisfaction for us, as we have the honor and pride of hosting an international event desired by the FIGC, in collaboration with CONI and above all with the support of the Municipality of Pisa, which has done a lot to bring 12 national teams to the territory and to be able to give life to this qualifying round.. I also rememberconcludes Sbardella, how CONI has always been close to the Beach Teams, with Volleyball already included in the Olympic Program and the goal of doing the same with Beach Soccer, which is why, within an excellence such as that constituted by the “Olympic Preparation Center” of Tirrenia, which includes 42 hectares of sports surface, we had the opportunity years ago to build the Beach Arena on a stable surface compared to the sandy one and not temporary, as well as being heatable and closable, as well as capable of hosting between 400 and 500 people in the stands including the Authority Stage, and also usable for Beach Volleyball like Beach Tennis, but which was strongly desired to give prominence to this discipline in which CONI believes a lot“.
The word goes to the Technical Commissioner Emiliano Del Duca who comments: “There is great anticipation for tomorrow’s debut, as well as the desire and pride to wear the national team jersey again, even though we are called to face a group that may seem less complicated than the actual value of our opponents, given that in the debut we will have to meet Estonia, a team that put us in difficulty last year in the qualifications for the 2024 World Cup (with Italy winning 3-1, ed.), even though the boys are very charged and ready to do well. Obviouslyconcludes the Technical Commissioner, the first objective is to achieve the qualification, in addition to obtaining a good Ranking that would favor us in the final phase of the Event that will take place in Alghero, being however obvious that we aim to reach the Final and try to win it as always, as we have this mentality in our DNA, just as I am convinced that the home air can only bring good to our goalkeeper Casapieri, currently the only blue of Pisa Beach Soccer L’energy as well as the best goalkeeper in the world, while remaining very clear that the doors of the National team are open to anyone, which is why it is not said that other Pisa boys who have been doing well for a few years now cannot find space in the near future too“.
Called into question, Leandro Casapieri it needs: “For me it is a source of pride to be able to represent at the National level the Pisa Beach Soccer Company that for many years has helped me on this path and supported me by providing everything an athlete needs, so that, even though it is an amateur sport, the Pisan Club is for me a family of professionals and to whom I owe a lot, which is why I want to reciprocate all this by giving my all for the blue jersey, also perhaps having the task of redeeming the performance of the senior National Football Team even if I am convinced that the boys have given everything they could to do well, with the hope therefore of confirming the European title won last year also to reiterate the growth of a movement that is increasingly attracting young people“.
But perhaps the most satisfied of all is Sports Councillor Froda Scarpa who had anticipated how he had some positive surprises for the Coast in the summer period: “There is much anticipation for this event, in addition to being happy for the fact of continuing in the wake of the policies of tourist-sports direction for the enhancement of both our city and the Coast, remembering how the “Centro di Preparazione Olimpica” of CONI of Tirrenia represents an excellence of the territory, as there are 23 in Italy and it is however the only one to have a Beach Arena of the highest level as a structure, with stands that can accommodate up to 700 people and a sand that can be heated even in winter, in addition to being covered with a technostructure, so that it can be used throughout the year and within which the young athletes of Pisa also train. Hope is therefore“, concludes the Councilor, “that this event can be a great success with a good public return, specifying that Beach Soccer is a sport in great evolution that is becoming more and more popular not only in Italy but also throughout Europe, which is why as a Municipal Administration we want to push for the promotion of this type of discipline with our young people – as, at the same time, we are doing with the first “Trofeo di Padel Città di Pisa” that is taking place in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II – precisely by virtue of the structures that our city, compared to others, has available, without forgetting, in this regard, the presence of an excellence such as Energy Pisa Beach Soccer that for two years in a row has reached the Final of the European Champions League and that sees its goalkeeper Casapieri as the starter of the Italian national team, as well as being considered the best goalkeeper in the world, which puts me in the position of having to underline how Pisa can be a protagonist at an international level as a city for sporting events regarding all types of specialties and consequent promotion of new sports disciplines with adequate structures also in Italy“.
THE CALENDAR OF THE ITALIAN COMPETITIONS (free entry for each day, from morning to evening, upon registration on the site: https://events.penguinpass.it/room/BeachSoccer2024
Wednesday 3 July – Estonia-Italy, 7pm
Thursday 4 July – Italy-Czech Republic, 3pm (live on RaiSport)
Friday 5 July – Italy-Denmark, 6pm (live on RaiSport)
Last modified: July 2, 2024
