The European Champions Cup will maintain its old format for at least another season, this news comes after an earlier report had the 2015 tournament taking place with a restructured format that excluded both the Rimini Pirates (2014 Italian Cup winners) and T&A San Marino (representatives of the Republic of San Marino).
The Confederation of European Baseball’s now proposed 2016 formula will include three European Tournaments…
Those to participate in the Champions Cup will include the winning organizations out of Italy, Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Russia and Ukraine, meaning that San Marino could be out (unless they win the IBL Championship) in 2016. The participating clubs will be divided up into two divisions of 4 teams each, with the top two teams earning the right to move onto the semifinal round of the tournament. The last place team at the conclusions of the event will be demoted to the CEB Cup. The Champions Cup will be played out over a total of 5 days.
The second of the 3 European tournaments, the CEB Cup, will also consist of 8 countries of which will include clubs out of Italy, Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic, France (the second place teams), San Marino, Belgium and Switzerland. The winning club will earn a bid for their country in the Champions Cup the following year if that country is not already a participant in the tournament, while the last place team will be demoted to the Federations Cup.
Finally, in 2015 the Federations Cup will include the top clubs out of Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden, with the possibility of other clubs to join the event as the organizers iron out the details of the tournament.
