Brno will be the venue for Group C of the competition, including favourites the Netherlands. Credit: Brno City Municipality.
Brno, Sep 22 (BD) – From 24 September to 1 October, the Czech Republic will host the European Baseball Championship for the third time, and one the first round groups will take place in Brno, as well as several knock-out games. Alongside the professional matches, the city will also see a range of accompanying events to mark the occasion.
Brno will be the venue for Group C of the competition, including the Dutch national team, who are favourites for the whole competition with 24 titles under their belt, more than any other country. Joining the favourites in the group will be teams from France, Croatia, and Ukraine.
All group matches will be played at the Municipal Baseball Stadium in Komárov, as well as two quarter-finals, both semi-finals, the battles for seventh and fifth place and medal matches. The stadium will also become the home of the Czech team during knockout round matches. Elimination matches for ninth to sixteenth place will also be played in Brno, at the Hroch Sports Complex in Jundrov.
In addition to the matches themselves, there will be a tournament fan zone in Komárov, supported by the City of Brno, where visitors can try out disciplines such as hitting for accuracy, hitting with a pitching machine, and throwing for speed or accuracy. It is also expected to have a large screen broadcasting the matches live. It will be open from 28 September to 1 October between 11 am and 10 pm, or until the end of the last match of the day. Entry to the fan zone is free.
The accompanying program of the championship will be complemented by a baseball festival at the Hroch stadium, with contests, a prize raffle, and face painting. Visitors can also test their skills in korfball, zorbing, summer biathlon and American football. The Hroch Festival takes place on 28-30 September. More information can be found here.
The tournament starts on Sunday, with the new European champion announced a week later. The complete schedule and tickets can be found on the championship website.
