The Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) announced on Monday that Zurich, Switzerland and Vienna, Austria will host the B-Level European Championships next summer. The two tournaments with six teams each will be played from Monday, July 22 to Saturday, July 27. After a single round robin a final between the top two teams of each pool will determine the winners, which receive a spot in the 2014 A-Pool European Championship in the Czech Republic.
CEB also established the two groups. However both are preliminary. A couple of reasons were named.
- Each of the 12 qualified participating teams has to confirm their participation until December 31.
- The new Belarus Baseball Federation is still waiting for its official recognition by the National Olympic Committee.
- Israel protested its standing as C-Level team- The protest will be handled during the EC meeting on January 12.
- During the EC meeting on January 12 they will also decide how participation will be guaranteed if national federations have outstanding debts.
Preliminary Grouping for B-Level European Championship
Zurich (Switzerland)
- Great Britain
- Bulgaria
- Ukraine
- Switzerland
- Slovenia
- Lithuania
Vienna (Austria)
- Russia
- Belarus
- Austria
- Ireland
- Poland
- Slovakia