WBSC Europe Launches -- Federations Focus

(ATR) World Baseball Softball Confederation president Riccardo Fraccari says the new European body is another step to "becoming a major global and long-term Olympic sport".

The establishment of WBSC Europe follows the merger of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) and the European Softball Federation (ESF), part of the WBSC’s restructuring at continental level.

Delegates of 38 national baseball and softball federations unanimously approved the merger at the recent joint European Baseball Softball Congress in Paris.

Fraccari said WBSC Europe would also help efforts "toward building a billion-member community over the next decade".

"WBSC applauds the leadership and shared baseball-softball vision of CEB, ESF and all the European national federations on this historic day," he added.

CEB president Didier Seminet and his ESF counterpart Gabriel Waage were appointed co-chairmen of the WBSC Europe.

"We are confident that the new WBSC Europe body will both streamline and reinforce the promotion of baseball and softball throughout Europe, and also cross-promote and enhance the marketability of the WBSC Europe Championships, which will serve as qualifiers for WBSC's Baseball World Cups and Softball World Cups," they said in a statement.

Guiding the merger transition and responsible for drafting of a new constitution will be a 10-member WBSC Europe interim executive board. It is scheduled to present the full organizational structure and constitution to the joint CEB and ESF Congress in 2019 for ratification.

FIFA Leaders Head to Nigeria

FIFA president Gianni Infantino and a delegation of senior officials from world football’s governing body are taking part in a Lagos conference.

Infantino will be joined by secretary general Fatima Samba Samoura, Dutch FA chief Michael Van Praag and his Serbian counterpart Slavisa Ikokezia along with leaders from some of the Caribbean football associations. Around a dozen African football federations are scheduled to participate, according to Nigerian media reports.

Confederation of African Football president Ahmad Ahmad will play a lead role at the FIFA Executive Football Summit running Feb. 20 to 22.

At the January meeting in Amsterdam, the fifth in a series of 12 FIFA summits taking place in 2017/2018, the presidents and general secretaries from 21 member associations and three confederations (AFC, CONCACAF, and UEFA) debated issues. These included the federation’s Forward Program and the future of youth and women’s competitions.

Written by Mark Bisson

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