Women's Championship begins today
Women's Softball European Championship begins today at five fields in Bollate, Caronno, Rho, and Bovisio in Italy.
The tournament takes seven days - begins today - on Sunday, June 25th, and ends on Saturday, July 1st.
23 teams came from all around Europe to play at the biggest European softball tournament of the year.
The reigning champions - Italy - are also the home team and they will definitely want to show their home crowd how the gold is seized. Meanwhile, the Dutch, who took the previous three European titles, placed fourth at the latest World Championship, and will for sure be aiming for the highest place. Then there are the Czechs, the British and the Russians, who are always among the best teams, will they be strong enough to make it to the final?
You can also see the competition level rising in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Spain, or France. To complete the 23 teams, here's the rest: Ukraine, Greece, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary.
The best three teams - the medalists - will advance to the 2018 World Championship in Japan.
Every single player on the field dreams about the Olympics, which steps up the level of the competition even more.
The 2017 Championship will be an incredible event so check back for daily reports, stats, photos and results. Live-streaming will be provided on the final three days.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
Four groups A, B, C, and D will play a single round robin.
Groups E and F will be created after a single round robin from the teams ranked first and second in their groups.
Groups E and F will play single round robin.
E4-F4 will play for 7th place.
Teams ranked first, second and third from group E will play teams ranked first, second, and third from group F.
Ranking will be created after these games and the 5th and 6th place in the competition will be determined by the ranking.
Top four teams will enter the page system to determine places 1 – 4 in the competition.
Groups G and H will be created after single round robin from the teams ranked third and fourth in their groups.
Groups G and H will play single round robin.
Top two teams from both groups will enter the page system to determine places 9 – 13.
G3-H3 will play for 13th place.G4-H4 will play for 15th place.
Group I will be created from the teams ranked 5th and 6th in their groups.
Group I will play single round robin, in which the games already played within groups A, B, C, and D will be considered as played and the previous results will count.
The final results of the group I round robin will determine places 17 – 23 in the competition.
-Helena Novotna-
