ESF Executive board meeting finished on Thursday and that means the hosts and dates for the 2016 ESF competitions are confirmed.

Now, when these details are set, it's time for the teams to enter the desired tournaments. National teams may send their applications for the championships and European clubs shall apply for their attendace in the cup competitions. The application forms were sent to the Federations and may also be found in the Documents section or downloaded here:

ENTRY_FORM_CHAMPIONSHIP_2016.doc

ENTRY_FORM_CUP_2016.doc

The deadline for entries is December 31st. Our development competitions have their deadline for entries extended until April 15th - this applies to EMRYT this year. Also, the European Softball Masters' entries deadline is extended until April 15th with the objective of increasing the number of participants.


ESF 2016 Competitions' Organizers

The ESF season will start on July 4th with U 22 Women's Championship, hosted by Pardubice - a town in the Czech Republic. They organized the Slowpitch Championship back in 2013. This competition is very interesting, it will be its fifth edition and Italy participated only twice. The Dutch have not entered this competition yet, also there are no Brits in the tournament's past results. Top European teams' absence opens the door for other teams. Russia and the Czech Republic are historically the most succesful teams which took part in the European Championship U 22 Women.   

Men's European national teams will meet to determine the European Champion in Montegranaro, Italy. The tournament will start on July 11th and the final game is scheduled for July 16th. Italy has not had a team in the Men's Championship since the competition was established in 1993. There are only three countries that have ever had the privilege to call themselves the 'European Champions' and those are the Czech Republic, Denmark and the Netherlands. Montegranaro hosted the European Premiere Cup Women in 2014.

On August 1st, Junior Women's Championship will start in Spain. Two venues are hosting this event - Sant Boi and Gava. We're very happy to welcome Spain back among the European comeptitions' organizers! In the last five editions, there were always more than ten participating teams and that definitelly steps up the challenge and increases the quality of the U-19 women tournament. Except for the traditional winners of women's competitions', also the national team from Germany marked their European success in this category.

There's one more organizing country, that hasn't been one of the usual hosts lately. Austria is hosting Slowpitch Super Cup from August 2nd till August 6th. Co-ed club teams will meet in Wiener Neustadt, we're excited to add another organizer to our list!

European Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy is traditionally held in Collecchio, Italy. The city of Parma is co-hosting this year's edition. We're very glad that the European tournament for the youngest (U 13) girls exists and helps with the development overall.

August is the month of European Cups. Women's Cups have their organizers appointed; Premiere Cup will be held in Ronchi and Staranzano, Italy. The European Cup Women, the qualifier for the Premire Cup will take place in Most, Czech Republic and on the other side of the country, in Ostrava, the European Cup Winners will fight for the European Cup.

The Men's Super Cup doesn't have its organizer appointed yet. Also, the newly established competitions are stil awaiting their hosts: European Championship Men's Slowpitch and European Softball Masters.

Complete list of our competitions, organizers and dates is available here.

-Helena Novotná-