Only one year ago a beautiful Luzhniki Stadium hosted 2018 FIFA World Cup final. France won the title, team Russia impressed everyone. The country changed its perception among foreign people once and forever. And now the great beach soccer event came to the capital of Russia, Moscow. 2019 European World Cup qualification starts today and will last from July 19 to July 27.
The World Cup itself will be held in Paraguay in November, and 11 out of 16 teams have already qualified. Now it’s turn for Europe to do their qualification. 19 teams will fight for 5 tickets to South America. The format of the tournament is pretty loyal to the favorites. Only 3 teams will relegates after the group stage so that the most important game will be in round 16. 8 teams will make it to the next round where they will form two groups of 4 teams each. Best 2 teams from each group will qualify and the third place teams will fight for the last spot.
Perhaps, you are wondering why there are 19 teams but not 20. Ukraine refused to come to Moscow. The reasons are unknown so we won’t guess and just admit that a very good team will not have an opportunity to qualify to Paraguay. Other than that the favorites are Russia, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Switzerland is somewhere close.
So BSRussia presents you one star player from the teams above who will surely shine bright in Moscow.
Madjer, Portugal
In January the legendary Portuguese striker turned 42 years old, but he does not even consider retiring just yet. For Majer this season is already 22nd in team Portugal. It is crazy to think that it has been that long since he put on the national team jersey in 1998. Some players of the upcoming tournament in Moscow were not yet born.
Madger is really popular at home. People always recognize him on the streets, and his pictures sit next to the posters Cristiano Ronaldo. Madjer is one of two Portuguese players who won the World Cup twice. 14 years divided these two victories! He is the six-time top scorer of the World Cups and twice MVP. Madjer is the only beach soccer player in history who became the best player of the year according to BSWW twice in a row.
At the last European World Cup Qualifier the striker was the first player in history to score 1000 goals! A few years ago it seemed that his career is going down, but this year he is in perfect shape again. Unreal experience and strong leadership skills allow him to remain one of the key players of the Portuguese national team.
Dejan Stankovic, Switzerland
This name is also very well-known far beyond beach soccer. 33-year-old Swiss of Serbian origin is famous for amazing assists and the ability to complete the attacking efforts of his teammates. Switzerland traditionally plays entertaining soccer, so Dejan is usually among the top-scorers. Stankovic accumulated less trophies than his colleagues from Russia or Portugal, but he still has a lot to be proud of. He is the Euroleague winner, vice-champion of the World Cup, European Cup winner, European Games medalist. Dejan also has a great number of personal awards - he is the MVP and the top scorer of 2009 World Cup.
Switzerland beach soccer team is a real mix of emotions and beautiful goals. Unpredictability and entertainment is its initials.
Llorenz Gomez, Spain
The Spanish national team have gone through a very painful change of generations and now fully came back as one of the top teams in world beach soccer. The face of the new generation of the Spanish "team is charismatic and always positive Llorenz Gomez. He interested the national team coaches when he was 20 years old and quickly became one of the most recognizable players on the planet.
Llorenz reached the 2013 World Cup final with Spain, he was the runner-up of the Euroleague twice, won 2014 European Cup. In 2018 Llorenz was named the best player of the world according to BSWW. The Spaniard says that beach soccer is a way of life for him. He travels year-round and encourages other people to love beach soccer. Llorenz's motto is that "every day is a holiday." This phrase is perfect for the upcoming European qualifying tournament in Moscow. And Llorenz Gomez will definitely make this holiday even brighter.
Gabriele Gori, Italy
Italian striker can not be called the most popular person among his rivals. Many believe that his acting talent is even better than his sports one. Gori knows how to convince the officials to give him a free kick or penalty, but this is not his only superpower. Gabriele always scores a lot, and what is even more important makes it very beautiful.
His bicycle kicks is the most formidable weapon of the Italian national team. At the last World Cup Gori scored 17 goals in six games and became the top scorer. The team itself became fourth twice at the World Cup. Last year Italy won their best title so far – Euroleague. Gori will be the main force of Italians in Moscow.
Dmitry Shishin, Russia
Russian hospitality is famous all over the world. That is why first of all we told you about our guests before telling about the real beach soccer superstar from Russia. Dmitry Shishin is a a very modest guy from Saratov, but at the same he has one of the best shots in the history of beach soccer. You can hardly find a goalkeeper who did not allow goals from Shishin.
He played in 206 games for team Russia and scored 228 goals. This is the best result in the history of the Russian "beach soccer. Shishin will try to achive the number of 250 goals here in Moscow. How cool it would be!
