The event began with a qualification round. The competition proper then commenced, with a round robin group stage. At its conclusion, the best teams progressed to the knockout stage, a series of single elimination games to determine the winners, starting with the round of 16 and ending with the final. Consolation matches were also played to determine other final rankings.
Kristall of Russia were the defending champions but were barred from entering the competition this year.[Note RUS] The final was contended between two Portuguese clubs, Benfica Loures and Braga; the former won the competition for the first time, whilst the latter finished as runners-up for the third year straight.[3]
Normal qualification rules returned, having been suspended for the last two editions, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[4][5]
The number of clubs which are entitled to enter automatically from each country depends on the perceived strength of their country's national league. BSWW determine the strength of each league by analysing the performance of all clubs in the EWC on a country-by-country basis over the previous five editions. A points-based ranking is produced from the data, as seen in the table below.[6][7]
From the most recent edition of their country's national league:
The first through sixth place performing nations can enter three clubs (league champions, runners-up and third-placed team).
The seventh, eighth and ninth place performing nations can enter two clubs (league champions and runners-up).
The tenth place and below performing nations can enter just one club, their league champions.
The above clubs take priority and are offered their country's slots first. However, if such clubs choose not to are or unable to participate, the slot is offered to the next highest placed teams from their league in turn until one accepts. Thus, in reality, some countries fill their allocated quota with clubs placed considerably lower down in their league, don't fill all their slots, or sometimes fill no slots at all.
The "host club" and defending champions also enter automatically.[8]
Any and all clubs that don't qualify automatically, and/or are surplus to their countries allocated quotas, are entitled to enter the accompanying Euro Winners Challenge (preliminary round) to take place in the days prior to the competition proper, as a last opportunity to qualify for the EWC group stage; the best eight clubs will qualify.[2]
Association ranking & slot allocation for 2022 Euro Winners Cup
A further 27 members of UEFA are unranked; all are entitled to enter one club.
The draw to split the clubs 32 and 28 clubs into groups for both the group and preliminary stages respectively took place at 12:00 CEST (UTC+2) on 6 May at BSWW's headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.[13]
The group winners, plus the six best runners-up (excluding the Challenge qualifiers groups), progress to the knockout stage. The statistically next best eight performing clubs recede to the 17th–24th place placement matches; the worst performing eight clubs recede to the 25th–32nd place placement matches.
^2021 Calendar Launch. Beach Soccer Worldwide (video). 13 April 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
^"Slots - Euro Winners Cup 2022". Beach Soccer Worldwide via Beach Soccer Belgium. 25 January 2022. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.