At the combined ESF/CEB Congress, which took place in Belgrade, Serbia. The purpose of the meeting was the questions about candidate for the executive board of the European Softball Federation (ESF) and the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB).

Jan Esselman from the Netherlands, is looking to become the new chair for the new executive board of governing body for European Baseball. We asked to him some questions and he gave us detailed answers to this question.

Please, introduce yourself to our audience.

I am from Haarlem, Netherlands. Serving CEB for 24 years as former member, secretary and chairman of the Technical Commission. Since the 2013 congress in Bled I am President of CEB.

What qualifies you to become President of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB)?

I am the President of CEB and the Members know me.

If you win the election, what will be your program for the first year?

The most important tasks of the new elected Board will be

1.To discuss and arrange a merge of CEB with ESF within 2 years.

2. To arrange the European Qualifier system for the Tokyo 2020 games in conjunction with the WBSC
To arrange the European Qualifier system for the Tokyo 2020 games in conjunction with the WBSC.
Would you be interested in bringing CEB and ESF together? If yes, what would be the advantages and what will be your measurements to make this happen?

Now that on the world level the merger is almost completed and in the next WBSC congress in October 2017 in Botswana the WBSC statutes will be approved the continents should follow soon. The sports will always exist separate but the management and administration of CEB and ESF should merge within the coming two years. The new elected CEB Board will gather with the new elected Board of ESF on the Sunday morning 5th February in Belgrade with the goal to establish a management group of baseball and softball leaders of both continental federations to discuss and arrange a merger.

The Euro League Baseball (ELB) was established last year to bring professional baseball to Europe. However, it was done without sanctioning of CEB. Will you be talking to the organizers to bring the   ELB into CEB? Is a real professional league a possibility?

Without financial support of WBSC and MLB or huge sponsorships there is no chance to build a professional league in Europe. The performance of the ELB up to now is not conform a professional league, mainly caused by the lack of finances. CEB is formed for and prepared to support any baseball activity in Europe. To create a real European professional league needs huge amounts of money which are unfortunate at this moment not yet available.

What will be your actions during your term to increase the number of baseball players in Europe?

To reach that we need the help of our members, the National Federations. Our development plans can only be a success together with them. There are several ideas to be implemented and BeeBall is a perfect tool to continue.

How it possible to increase the visibility of European baseball competitions?

The last four years CEB brought the competitions in line with the qualification for the World Championships. Successful was the split in A, B and C-level in all Championships and tournaments of National teams and Club teams. To use the example from WBSC the CEB must investigate a Premier 6 competition between the top National teams Seniors in Europe.

The CEB offices are currently in Zagreb, Croatia. Will they stay there or do you propose a change?

We were able to open the Zagreb office 2014 with the financial help of the Croatian authorities. It’s a great help and big support in the administration for the Executive.

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