Five days of competition for baseball5 with a U18 European champion title to be awarded and a spectacular discipline to discover at the Arténium de Ceyrat from Tuesday October 29 to Saturday November 2, while the French senior team has just won the title of world baseball champion5 in Hong Kong.
Two years in a row, the Arvernes Clermont Auvergne baseball softball club orchestrated the French Baseball Open5 at the Arténium in Ceyrat.
Organizations in 2023 and 2024 which have attracted the clubs, the French federation and which have been noticed at the highest level since the Auvergnats have been entrusted with hosting the Euro under 18s, which will take place from Tuesday October 29 to Saturday November 2, in this ideal room that is the Arténium for the practice of this sport.
“Baseball5 is a new discipline that has existed since 2017 and which inspires Cuban street baseball,” explains Baptiste Izoulet, president of Arvernes Clermont Auvergne baseball softball.
80 matches will take place in five days on the pitches installed in the Arténium de Ceyrat. Thierry Lindauer
With short matches (around twenty minutes), in teams of five (with at least two girls and two boys on the field), a soft ball, baseball5 is trying to find a place in the school world while the club Clermontois would like to have a dedicated team.
But, for the moment, it is as organizer of the event that the Arverni are rolling up their sleeves. Between 20 and 30 volunteers will be mobilized every day for the smooth running of this European Championship.
Baseball5, one of the rare sports where the teams are mixed: “We contribute to each other”
Sixteen nations will meet for this competition with France, Bulgaria, Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands among the favorites.
A European champion title will be at stake. But not only that, since the winner of this Euro U18 will take an option for qualification for the Youth Olympic Games which will take place in Dakar in 2026.
80 matches will be played in five days, between group matches and the final phase which will take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (free entry for spectators).
The final is scheduled for Saturday, November 2, at 3 p.m.
French team
During the group matches, the French team, which includes Ligerian Lisa Vieira (also a member of the French women’s softball and baseball teams), will play against Moldova (Tuesday October 29, at 11:15 a.m.), Belgium (Tuesday, at 7 p.m.), the Netherlands (Wednesday, October 30, at 12:30 p.m.) and against Spain (Wednesday, at 6:45 p.m.), Bulgaria (Thursday, October 31, at 11:15 a.m.).
The French team is managed by Lahcene Benhamida, also at the head of the senior French team which won gold at the baseball5 world championships, in Hong Kong, two weeks ago.
Gilles Lalloz
