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​The 2022 European softball rankings are official
29/09/2022 2 Minute Read

​The 2022 European softball rankings are official

Softball Europe released the 2022 European softball rankings for Women's Softball, Men's Softball, and Slowpitch, based on the results of the past seasons.

The European softball rankings are now official: Italy and Netherlands are the number one in women's softball, Czechia is leading in men's softball, while Great Britain confirms its lead in Slowpitch after winning both of the 2022 European Championships.

The European softball rankings are based on the final standings of the European Championships including the youth categories from the last two editions of each competition. Therefore, the ranking reflects the performance of the top teams in each country as well as the development point of view. 

The rankings are still partially affected by the absence in 2021 of several National Teams from the European Championships.

Women's Softball European Ranking
The Kingdom of the Netherlands reached Italy at the first position after winning gold in 2022 and silver in 2021 at the Women's European Championship.
In the top ten, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland improved their positions compared to the 2021 rankings (LINK), while France dropped from fourth to sixth. 
Ukraine is now just outside of the top ten, ranking eleventh. While Greece and Slovakia gained one position in the ranking, Austria, Belgium and Russia dropped in the ranking. Switzerland went from the twentieth to the nineteenth position. Malta and Finland entered the Women's Softball ranking taking the total number of countries in the ranking from 25 to 27.

Men's Softball European Ranking
The Czech Republic, Denmark, and Croatia keep leading the Men's Softball European ranking. Israel overtook the Kingdom of the Netherlands taking the fourth spot and pushing the Dutch to the fifth.
All the other rankings positions remain the same as 2021.
The total number of countries in the rankings remains the same as 2021 - 13.

Slowpitch European Ranking
With two gold medals in 2022 only, Great Britain keeps leading the ranking with 2050 points. Germany is in the second spot, followed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Ireland, both improving compared to 2021. Czechia lost the podium and went from third to fifth. 
While Slovenia gained one position making it to the ninth spot, Bulgaria went down one but stayed in the top 10.
The total number of countries in the rankings remains the same as 2021 - 12.

HISTORY
The previous European Softball rankings can be found here.

How the European Softball ranking system works:
Rankings are based on points (multiplied by 100) given according to final standings at European Championships in all categories, with the following weighting: 

  • Senior European Championship – 100% 
  • Junior European Championship – 50% 
  • All others (U22 and U16) – 25%    

The ranking system only takes into account the two most recent championships in each category, with the following weighting:

  • Most recent ECh – 100% 
  • Previous ECh – 50%   

A total of all the points awarded determines the placement of each country in each ranking.

Cover photo by Grega Valancic