Sixteen National Teams will compete from Friday, 28 February, to Sunday, 1 March, in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the first-ever Baseball5 European Championship. WBSC Europe announced the competition format during last week's WBSC Europe Congress in Vilnius.
The participants will be split into four groups:
Belgium, The Netherlands, Moldova and Sweden will form Group A. Belarus, Italy, Latvia and Romania are included in Group B. Bulgaria, Estonia, Israel and Russia will compete in Group C while the hosts Lithuania will be part of Group D together with France, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
After group play, the tournament will proceed with a single elimination format.
The European Championship will be the first qualifying event to the inaugural Baseball5 World Cup, to be held in Mexico in December. Europe will qualify two National Teams.
The 12-team Baseball5 World Cup will also feature two National Teams from Africa, three each from the Americas and Asia, and one each from Oceania and the hosts Mexico.
The Asian Cup, scheduled in April, will be another qualifier. The WBSC set a deadline of 15 February for the Continental Associations to confirm their respective qualification process.
