WBSC Europe: World Cup Qualifiers postponed, Club competitions cancelled

WBSC Europe: World Cup Qualifiers postponed, Club competitions cancelled
02/04/2020
Softball's 2020 continental national team championships in Europe have been postponed until further notice, due to the coronavirus pandemic. European championships serve as qualifiers for the various WBSC Baseball World Cups and WBSC Softball World Cups.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, WBSC Europe has made the decision to postpone the European Qualifiers for the 2021 WBSC Softball World Cups and national team baseball events while also cancelling all 2020 European baseball and softball club competitions.

Softball

Postponed softball events include the following tournaments:

The 2020 Women’s European Softball Championship, which was originally scheduled to be played from 7-13 June in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is a qualifier for the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup 2021 with three available spots for the top finishers. The winner of the tournament is also to represent Europe in the 2022 World Games.

The 2020 Men’s European Softball Championship in Ledenice, the Czech Republic, which is a qualifier for the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand. The top two national teams will represent Europe in the global competition.

The 2020 U-15 Women’s European Softball Championship, awarded to Enschede, Netherlands, which is a qualifier for the newly created WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup.

The fourth European softball tournament that still remains in the calendar is the European Masters Cup, that was originally scheduled for the end of October in Saint Boi, Spain. It's the only club tournament scheduled since all other club competitions have been cancelled for 2020.

Baseball

All 2020 European Baseball Club Competitions: Champions Cup, CEB Cup, Federations Cup and Federation Cup Qualifier have been cancelled.

The European Baseball Champions Cup was scheduled to take place from June 2 to 6 in Ostrava, Czech Republic, while the CEB Cup was due to be held from June 2 to 6 in Sénart, France. The Federations Cup was scheduled from June 15 to 20 in Brasschaat, Belgium and the Federations Cup Qualifiers were to be held from June 16 to 21 in Sant Boi, Spain, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.

Regarding the European Baseball Championships, where U-12 and U-18 events are due to qualify teams for World Cups next year, WBSC Europe is closely monitoring the situation with the WBSC and no decision has been made yet.

As part of its constant monitoring of the global situation concerning the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the WBSC community and global events calendar, the WBSC is hosting regular video conferences with all Continental Associations and event organisers in order to collaborate on calendar changes at WBSC and continental level.