The Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS, Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball) hosted the draw of the XXXVI European Baseball Championship. The tournament is scheduled from 12 to 19 September in Turin, Settimo Torinese and Avigliana, in the northwestern Region of Piedmont.
The European Baseball Championship will be for the first time a 16-team tournament. The four winners of qualifying tournaments scheduled from 29 June to 4 July in Moscow (Russia), Utena (Lithuania), Beograd (Serbia) and Bratislava (Slovakia) will join the 12 participants of the 2019 edition.
The Four Groups
GROUP A: Italy-Austria-Belgium-Utena winner
GROUP B: Spain-Croatia-Germany-Beograd winner
GROUP C: Israel-Great Britain-France-Moscow winner
GROUP D: Netherlands-Sweden-Czech Republic-Bratislava winner
The top two finishers of each group will advance to the elimination games (quarterfinals, semifinals and final).
The Netherlands have won 23 editions. Hosts Italy have won 10. Spain (1955) and Belgium (1967) are the only other countries that have won the continental title
The draw was introduced by Didier Seminet, the president of the European Baseball Confederation (CEB), Andrea Marcon, the president of FIBS, and WBSC Executive Director Michael Schmidt.
Watch the whole draw