What is the Eurocup?

Each year any Petanque England registered club has the option of entering a club squad for the Eurocup competition.

The format of the competition is knock-out matches initially drawn against any other teams entered from your region, or adjoining regions if you are the only one.

Each knockout match consists of a round of two triples games and a second round of three doubles games. Each game won gets one point, anybody winning 3 games has therefore won the best of 5 and will proceed to the next round of the knockout.

If you get through these first three rounds you go to a days semi-final at a national venue against 3 other teams. On that day you will again play the faniliar 2 triples and 3 doubles format, but this time against each of the other 3 teams, meaning a total six rounds.

There are 4 semi-finals across the country the winner of each goes into the main final which will happen over a weekend in usually August.

This will additionally contain an extra round of singles against each opposition. The winner of that then proceeds to represent England abroad in Europe that November.

The runner ups of each of the 4 semi-finals then proceed to compete for the PE Trophy, a days competition in the same format as the Semi-final.

From this coming year 23-24 the PE Trophy holders will also earn themselves a bye to the semi-final stage of the competition the following year, meaning they don’t play the first 3 stages. Unfortunately the team coming last in the finals will then have to enter at stage 1 for the following year.

Read the full rules of Eurocup

London Petanque Clubs 2 Teams London 1 and 2 in season 2022-23

This year London 1 got a bye into one of the four Semi-finals each of four teams, since they came in the top 4 last year. London 2 also qualified, albeit eventually from only one match against Gravesend Harlequins, for the same semi-final in Oxshott on 2nd July. 

 The draw had a bye in the first round and Meadow 2 sadly couldnt field a team for our arranged fixture so we got a walkover in round 2. 

 Oddly the semi-final saw both London 1 & 2 meet in the same semi-final in Oxshott.

London 1 won the event and continued on to the final held over the weekend of 19-20 August on the difficult technical terrains of Leicester Petanque Club. The winning club represents England in Europe in November. 

 Thanks to CLS, their sponsor, they will have significant financial backing to help with their accommodation at the finals weekend.

The rules will change next year significantly in that only the top 3 in the finals weekend will get an automatic bye to the semi-finals the following year. Interestingly the winner of the PE Trophy will get the coveted 4th place in the semi-finals for the following year, meaning there is much more to play for for teams finishing in places 5-8 in the Semi-final.

London 2 on the other hand came 2nd in their semi-final meaning they earned the right to compete with 3 others for the title of PE England Trophy. Which is effectively 5th club in the country after the widely acknowledged Big 4 of London 1, River Hamble, Meadow and Baldock. 

 London 2 were second in the semi-final and progressed to the PE Trophy one day event in Bordon which suited the Southern focus of all 4 teams London 1, Cobbetts, Bargemans rest and Railway. The eventual winners being Bargeman’s rest from the Isle of Wight.

Eurocup rules state that the minimum squad of 6 players must include one member of the opposite sex, so at least one man with five women or indeed one woman for max five men.

Each round you can nominate up to 8 people but the seventh must be of the opposite biological sex to allow for substitutions.

23-24 Season

 We reached out to Petanque England before the deadline of end of July 2023 to confirm that London Petanque Club will compete with 2 teams for the upcoming season. 

 London 2 has a bye in the first round and needs to complete the second round hosting at home in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens by 28th January 2024. 

 We await the results of the first round match between Gravesend Rugby football club B against Crockenhill 2. 

 Club captain Nic Baxter, is currently preparing a document that will detail selection criteria and expectations for inclusion in the London 1 and 2 squads together with a pathways guide to give some transparency about the processes.