(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Next years European Championship in Italy (Women) and Czech Republic (Men); More hosts named
Nederlands
 ANTWERP (Belgium) -
The European Softball Federation (ESF) on Tuesday (November 19) announced and confirmed five hosts for next years European Championships.
In 2020, the ESF organizes six European Championships, two for women, three for men and one in slowpitch.
The hosts for the European Cup-tournaments will be announced after the meeting held by the Executive Committee of the ESF in Rome (Italy) on December 1.
Women's Softball
The 22nd edition of the Women's European Championship will be held June 7-13 in the Friuli Region in Italy.
The Friuli Region is located in the northeast, which includes the softball-cities of Ronchi dei Legionari, Castions di Strada, Staranzano and Udine.
The area is also close to Venice.
The last time Italy hosted the event was in 2017 when the games were played in the Bollate-area.
The top-three teams of the event will qualify for the 2021 WBSC Women's World Cup.
Also, the winner of the tournament not only will be crowned as European Champion, but also also qualifies for the 2021 World Games, the multi-sport event, which then will be hosted in Birmingham, Alabama (USA).
Besides that, the six best teams will qualify for participation in the second edition of the Super6.
It will be the second time that the Friuli Region will host the European Championship.
The first time was in 2011 when games were played in Ronchi dei Legionari, Staranzano and Redipuglia.
It will mark the eighth time that Italy will organize the European Championship.
In 1979, the first-ever Championship was held in Rovereto.
Italy then also was the host in 1983 (Parma), 1990 (Genoa), 1995 (Settimo Torinese), 2003 (Caronno Pertusella/Saronno), 2011 (Friuli Region) and 2017 (Bollate).
Only twice, Italy won the title when is hosted the Championship, the last time in 2003.
In the other five tournaments, it was the Netherlands that was crowned as European Champion.
This year, the 21st Championship was held in the Czech Republic and Poland with Italy capturing the title.
The sixth Under-15 Women's European Championship will be held at the site of Tex Town Tigers in Enschede (Netherlands), which already was announced earlier.
In the event, which will be held July 13-18, the winner will also qualify for the first-ever WBSC Under-15 World Cup, which will be played in 2021.
This tournament is a continuation of the Under-13 European Championship, which had its last (fifth) edition in 2010 in Turkey whereRussia won the title.
Men Softball
The 15th Men's European Championship will be held next year in Ledenice (Czech Republic), starting on June 22 and ending on June 27.
The two teams that reach the Final also will qualify for participation in the WBSC Men's World Cup in 2021, which will be held in New Zealand.
It will be the seventh time that the Championship will be played in the Czech Republic and the second time in a row.
Last year, the 14th Championship was held in Havlíčkův Brod and Kostelec nad Orlicí.
This year, Havlíčkův Brod also was one of the sites of the WBSC Men's World Championship.
In 1993, the first-ever Championship was held in Prague, where the event also took place in 1999.
Hereafter, Choceň was the host in 2003.
In 2010, 2014 and 2018, the games were played in Havlíčkův Brod.
Last year, the Czech Republic captured its tenth European title and fourth in a row.
When it hosted the event, the Czechs won three times (1999, 2014 and 2018).
The other three times, the title was won by the Netherlands (1993, 2003) and Denmark (2010).
Sezimovo Ústí in the Czech Republic will be the host of two Championships.
On July 6-11, the 11th Under-18 Men's European Championship and the second Under-16 Men's European Championship will be hosted again as a joint event.
It will mark the first time that Sezimovo Ústí (83 km south of Prague) will be the host of an European tournament.
It will be the eighth time that the Czech Republic will host the Under-18 (previous Under-19) Championship and the sixth time in the last seven tournaments.
Earlier, the Czechs hosted the event in 1998 (Prague), 2002 (Choceň/Kostelec nad Orlicí), 2006 (Havlíčkův Brod), 2009 (Ledenice), 2011 (Kostelec nad Orlicí), 2015 (Most) and 2017 (Prague).
In 2017, the Czechs won the title for the fourth time in a row and eighth time overall.
The Czechs then also won the first edition of the Under-16 Championship.
Slowpitch Softball
The second Men's Slowpitch European Championship will also be held next year, but a host for this event has not yet been found.
In 2018, the first edition was held in Choceň (Czech Republic) with Great Britain becoming the first Champion.
(November 19)
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