Czech Republic to Host Baseball’s 2014 European Championship

October 9, 2012

Baseball’s 2014 European Championship will be played in the Czech Republic.

The Technical Commission of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) announced this decision and the new pools in a press release. The pools for the next European Championship were made based on the recent results from the 2012 tournament in the Netherlands and a CEB ranking spanning the last ten years. The CEB Executive had approved the new system in March this year.

The top ten teams of the 2012 European Championship will be qualified automatically for the next edition. 12 teams will have the chance to play a B-Level Qualifier from July 22 to 27, 2013. Another 15 teams will play a C-Level European Championship in the summer of 2014. Interested federations to host these events can submit their applications until November 1st, 2012 (B-Level) and November 1st, 2013 (C-Level). The rankings won’t be needed in the future, as promotion and relegation will determine the pools.

Italy won its second straight European Championship in September, defeating the Netherlands in the championship game. Spain finished in third place, while Germany, the Czech Republic and Sweden completed the top six.