WBSC Europe

World Baseball Softball Confederation Europe
	The logo of World Baseball Softball Confederation Europe
Category	Sport governing body
Jurisdiction	Europe
Membership	41
Abbreviation	WBSC Europe
Affiliation	World Baseball Softball Confederation
Headquarters	Lausanne, Switzerland
President	Krunoslav Karin
Official website
	www.wbsceurope.org/en

The World Baseball Softball Confederation Europe, known as WBSC Europe, was established on February 10, 2018, during a Congress of the Confederation of European Baseball and the European Softball Federation in Val d’Europe, France. the establishment of WBSC Europe followed the historic merger of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) and the European Softball Federation (ESF).^[1] As of September 2022, WBSC Europe counts 40 members for baseball and 39 for softball.^[2]

The CEB was founded in 1953 with 5 members, which were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy and Spain.^[3]

The CEB was responsible for operating the European Baseball Championship, a championship that has been running since 1954 in Europe.^[3] In 2010, there were 112,303 players in the CEB countries.^[4]

The ESF was founded in 1976 with 6 members, which were Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and Spain.^[5]

The ESF was responsible for operating the European Softball Championships.^[6]

Formation

The Confederation of European Baseball was formed in 1953. The European Softball Federation was formed in 1976, which then merged (baseball and softball) and formed into WBSC Europe in 2018.

WBSC Europe History

On February 14, 2018, in Paris, France, the delegates of 38 National Baseball and Softball Federations approved the merger of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) and the European Softball Federation (ESF) at the joint European Baseball Softball Congress in Paris, France.^[7]

In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, WBSC Europe relocated competitions that had been scheduled to be held in Russia during 2022, and excluded Russian and Belarusian teams from all its 2022 competitions.^[8]

CEB History

In April 1953 in Paris, France, 5 countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) gave birth to the European Baseball Federation, originally named in French Féderation Européenne de Baseball (FEB). The first Executive Committee was formed by President Steno Borghese of Italy, Secretary General Roger Panaye of Belgium and Vice President and head of the Technical Commission Luis Barrio of Spain.

In 1954 the first European Championship was played in Belgium and Italy claimed the victory.

The sixth member country, the Netherlands, was accepted at the 1956 Congress in Milan.

In 1957 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sweden became the seventh member, and FEB became an eight-country federation in London in 1960 when Great Britain was accepted.

In 1963 FEB launched their first club competition. The first European champion of the club competition was Picadero Barcelona.

In 1967 the federations of Italy and the Netherlands announced their withdrawal from FEB and founded a new Federation: Fédération Amateur Baseball. In April 1969 the two Federations re-entered FEB.

In 1971 another Italian, Bruno Beneck, succeeded Steno Borghese during the Congress held in Milan. San Marino was accepted as the ninth member.

In 1972 the organization changed its name to European Amateur Baseball Confederation or CEBA, according to the French Confederation Européenne de Baseball Amateur.

In 1974 the first U-18 European Championship for players of age 18 and under was played. The first title went to the Netherlands. The Dutch also claimed the first U-16 title in 1975. In 1979, during the Congress in Trieste, Italy, Denmark was accepted as the 10th member.

There were already 15 member countries when, in 1985, during the Congress in Zandvoort, Netherlands, Guus Van der Heiden of the Netherlands succeeded Bruno Beneck as the president.

When Van der Heiden died, Italian Federation President Aldo Notari was elected as the 4th president of the organization during the 1987 Congress in Barcelona.

During the 1990s the number of member countries increased dramatically up to 33 by 1994, at which time it was decided to drop the word Amateur from the name of the Confederation, known since then as CEB: Confederation Européenne du Baseball in French and Confederation of European Baseball in English. CEB also created the Cup Winners Cup in 1990 and the CEB Cup in 1993.

Martin Miller of Germany, who had been part of the executive since 1995, succeeded Aldo Notari (who was nominated Honorary President) in 2005, during the Congress in Prague. Miller was confirmed as president during the 2009 Congress in San Marino. During Miller's presidency, the number of European Cups for Clubs was reduced to two. Starting in the 2009 season, only a single European Cup for Clubs is played.

Miller resigned from the presidency during the 2012 Congress in Rotterdam. Petr Ditrich of the Czech Republic was the interim president until the 2013 Congress in Bled, Slovenia, that elected Jan Esselman of the Netherlands as the new president.

ESF History

In 1976 in Rome, Italy, 6 countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) gave birth to the European Softball Federation (ESF). The first Executive Committee was formed by President Bruno Benek of Italy and Secretary General Theo Vleeshhouwer of Netherlands.^[5]

WBSC World Rankings

Baseball

WBSC Men's Rankings (as of 18 December 2023)^[9]
Europe*	WBSC	+/-	National Team	Points
1	7		Netherlands	3288
2	14		Italy	1939
3	15		Czech Republic	1900
4	17		Germany	1223
5	18		Great Britain	1142
6	19		Israel	1086
7	21		France	792
8	22		Spain	775
9	25		Belgium	365
10	26		Croatia	317
11	29	2	Austria	295
12	30	1	Sweden	271
13	35	2	Ukraine	176
14	36	1	Greece	167
15	37	1	Russia	157
16	39	1	Switzerland	139
17	40	1	Hungary	124
18	43	2	Slovakia	106
19	47	2	Lithuania	80
20	55	2	Ireland	35
21	57	2	Bulgaria	30
22	60		Serbia	24
23	61		Belarus	23
23	61		Slovakia	23
25	67		Norway	17
26	72		Poland	11
27	73		Finland	10
27	73		Romania	10
29	78		Turkey	3
30	80		Estonia	2
*Local rankings based on WBSC ranking points

WBSC Women's Rankings (as of 22 September 2023)^[10]
Europe*	WBSC	+/-	National Team	Points
1	14	2	France	180
2	20		Czech Republic	56
3	23	10	Netherlands	32
4	24	7	Netherlands	24
5	25		Great Britain	8
*Local rankings based on WBSC ranking points

Softball

WBSC Men's Softball Rankings (as of 26 April 2023)^[11]
Europe*	WBSC	+/-	National Team	Points
1	6		Czech Republic	2526
2	11		Denmark	1069
3	16		Netherlands	412
4	17	4	Israel	339
5	21	1	Croatia	182
6	23		France	156
7	26		Slovakia	76
8	30		Sweden	50
9	32		Great Britain	26
10	33		Lithuania	24
*Local rankings based on WBSC ranking points

WBSC Women's Rankings (as of 10 November 2023)^[12]
Europe*	WBSC	+/-	National Team	Points
1	6	2	Italy	1816
2	8	1	Netherlands	1602
3	9	1	Czech Republic	1483
4	12		Spain	950
5	13		Great Britain	936
6	18	1	Israel	725
7	19	1	Germany	646
8	20	2	France	624
9	21	4	Ireland	614
10	22	2	Poland	477
11	24	1	Croatia	443
12	25	2	Ukraine	438
13	26	4	Austria	398
14	27	1	Slovakia	370
15	28	2	Greece	365
16	34	1	Denmark	219
17	35	6	Belgium	211
18	38	1	Russia	185
19	40	2	Switzerland	169
20	44	1	Malta	95
21	45	1	Finland	88
22	47	5	Hungary	76
23	51	2	Bulgaria	65
24	52	1	Lithuania	57
25	53		Turkey	50
26	56		Sweden	38
*Local rankings based on WBSC ranking points

Baseball5

WBSC Baseball5 Rankings (as of 9 August 2024)^[13]
Europe*	WBSC	National Team	Points
1	4	France	2390
2	10	Lithuania	1342
3	12	Turkey	1144
4	18	Netherlands	723
5	19	Belgium	716
6	20	Italy	702
7	21	Czech Republic	681
8	23	Romania	557
9	25	Spain	519
10	28	Bulgaria	394
11	29	Finland	330
12	31	Germany	223
13	33	Moldova	190
14	34	Greece	188
15	35	Latvia	179
16	36	Estonia	150
17	43	Israel	50
*Local rankings based on WBSC ranking points

Historical leaders

Highest Ranked Europe member in the WBSC Rankings

Men's baseball

Women's baseball

Men's softball

Women's softball