It is fantastic to see European Beach Ultimate develop. National club championships for women’s, men’s and mixed divisions took place in 19 countries throughout 2017 and 2018. Early last week, the complete list of the top European beach ultimate teams which will play at the BULA European Beach Ultimate Club Championships (EBUCC) in October became known.
The deadline for team qualification was July 31, with 3SB from Budweis qualifying through the Czech Republic national championship as the last team to participate at EBUCC, after coming second to the already qualified 2017 champions, Yellow Fujever.
The qualification rules are based on winning national championships over the last two years, as well as final division ranking at the 2017 World Championship Beach Ultimate in France. The latter especially influenced whether a nation could take one or two teams in each division. Spain for example, a beach ultimate nation with strong participation at WCBU2017 in Royan, has two teams in each division.
Being the first European beach ultimate club championship, EBUCC2018 will be a wonderful opportunity to see teams from all over Europe play beach ultimate at its highest level. Some of the teams competing have recently played at the grass world ultimate club championships (WUCC) in Cincinnati. In the Men’s division Ragnarok (DEN), KFUM Örebro (SWE), FAB (SUI), and Freezzz Beezzz (BEL) will have to practice playing without cleats for the next few months. In the Mixed and Women’s divisions GRUT (NED), Mubidisk (ESP), Seagulls (GER), and ZUF (SUI) will have to find a way to peak again at the end of the season. It will be interesting to see these teams, and all the other teams, play on sand.
With top teams and athletes from 19 European nations playing beach ultimate at the most competitive level, EBUCC2018 promises to be a fantastic championship! Tune in online and make sure to watch the Fanseat broadcast on the 26-28 Oct. Can you think of a better way to end the (beach) ultimate season?
