(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
       Euro League Baseball starts inaugural season with four clubs
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
The European Association of Professional Baseball announced on Wednesday (February 24) that the Euro League Baseball will have its inaugural season this year.
Four teams will face each other in the first professional European baseball-competition, but no teams from the Netherlands and Italy will participate as of now.
The EAPB was founded in May 2015 and since then, thirteen European clubs from seven different countries joined the organization.
In October last year, it was announced that the EAPB planned to start its inaugural season this year with the participation of ten teams.
On Wednesday, the EAPB stated that ''despite EAPB’s efforts to find a way to fit a 10-team schedule in the regular domestic league schedules and to find all required funds, ELB management ran into logistic and budget obstacles that sidelined some members for the 2016 season.
Ongoing talks with the Dutch Federation look promising, however pending these talks and pending a final agreement with Dutch member L&D Amsterdam, the League decided to field an Amsterdam-based occasional team to replace L&D Amsterdam for the inaugural season.
This Amsterdam-team will be composed of top players and coaches from different leagues in Europe and the US.''
Participating in the 2016 season will be Draci Brno (Czech Republic), Munich-Haar Disciples, Buchbinder Regensburg Legionäre (both Germany) and Team Amsterdam (Netherlands).
ELB-President Wim van den Hurk stated: ,,We’re confident that the downsized schedule gives us the opportunity to address grassroot issues and to fine tune our organization for future expansion''.
The schedule has yet to be announced.
In May 2015, the EAPB was founded in Amsterdam (Netherlands) with eight clubs becoming a member of the league.
The meeting in Amsterdam was attended by representatives from Vaessen Pioniers, Curaçao Neptunus (both Netherlands), Rouen Huskies (France) and T&A San Marino (San Marino).
Not represented at the meeting were CB Barcelona, CBS Sant Boi (both Spain), Templiers Sénart (France) and Buchbinder Regensburg Legionäre (Germany).
Later during the year, UnipolSai Bologna (Italy), Draci Brno (Czech Republic), Bonn Capitals, Munich-Haar Disciples (both Germany) and L&D Amsterdam Pirates (Netherlands) joined the league.
In past months, both Neptunus and Amsterdam Pirates (which joined in September), who both support the objective of the EAPB, had made it clear it would participate in the first season only when it would be possible financially.
Earlier in the year, the two Spanish teams and Pioniers already had announced it would not play in the inaugural season.
(February 26)
Related Articles:
 First season Euro League Baseball opens in 2016! (October 27, 2015)
Euro League Baseball unveils provisional schedule 2016. (September 22, 2015)
Amsterdam Pirates joins professional Euro League Baseball. (September 9, 2015)
Professional European Baseball League founded. (May 8, 2015)
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