The governing bodies for European Baseball and Softball, the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) and the European Softball Federation (ESF) announced on Monday in a joint press release a new tournament. The currently called Top 6 event will feature the best six men’s baseball national teams from Europe and the best six women’s softball national teams in obviously two separate tournaments, which however should be organized at one location. Roderick Balk (CEB) and Petra Arends (ESF) – both from the Netherlands and both newly elected to their respective executive boards this past February at the CEB-ESF-Congress in Belgrade – will be in charge of the working group to organize the event. The first edition is scheduled to be introduced during the 2018 season.
Dear Member Federations,
The Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) and the European Softball Federation (ESF) are pleased to inform you that we have started the process that will bring together softball and baseball in Europe.
One of the steps of the process is to create a joint baseball & softball tournament. The Joint CEB/ESF Commission have agreed to launch the joint “Top 6” (interim name) event gathering the six best countries of European Baseball (men) and the six best countries of European Softball (women).
The two CEB/ESF Joint Commission members Roderick BALK (CEB) and Petra ARENDS (ESF) will be in charge of the Top 6 working group with the aim of establishing this event in 2018.
Once the tournament regulations are set and after the approval of the CEB/ESF Joint Commission, the requirements will be sent to all of the European National Federations including the call for an organizer.
The cooperation and the path we are on will strengthen softball and baseball in Europe.
Didier Seminet
President
Confederation of European BaseballGabriel Waage
President
European Softball Federation