| Unpage Home | Europe-Africa Main Page |
| Year | Milestone |
| 1955 | The Wiesbaden Booster Club establishes the first official Little League program in Europe, chartering a league to serve the needs of dependents at Wiesbaden Air Base in West Germany. That summer, at the booster club's urging, Little League Founder and Commissioner Carl Stotz and Executive Secretary John Lindemuth seek to spark interest in Little League in Europe by embarking on a barnstorming tour of U.S. military facilities in Europe and North Africa. The six-week itinerary leads support groups at many bases to begin working toward chartering leagues to support their communities. By 1960, there are 70 chartered leagues in the Europe Region.
|
| 1958 | The Europe Region is formed, and the first region tournament is held. Orléans Area Command Little League from France defeats a league from Naval Air Station Port Lyautey (Morocco), 5-2, to become the first Europe Region champion. Region champions in 1958 and 1959 do not participate in the Little League World Series due to the significant transit cost involved in traveling from Europe to the U.S.
|
| 1960 | Berlin Command Little League from West Germany wins the region championship and becomes the first European team to participate in the Little League World Series.
|
| 1971 | Europe secures its first-ever championship bracket win at the Little League World Series when Torrejon Air Base Little League (Spain) blanks Augusta East Little League (Maine), 5-0, in the opening round of play in South Williamsport.
|
| 1975 | With Little League Baseball's board of directors voting in November 1974 to ban international teams from the Little League World Series, no Europe Region tournament is held. The ban is rescinded after the 1975 season, and the Europe Region tournament was again held in 1976.
|
| 1989 | Israel and Jordan enter leagues in the European Region tournament, marking the first time that multiple leagues not affiliated with expatriot or military communities enter the tournament.
|
| 1990 | Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November, 1989, Little League Baseball charters leagues in five former Eastern Bloc countries: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia and Poland enter the region tournament in 1990; Poland secured the first tournament win by a former Eastern Bloc country that same year, and Czechoslovakia follows with its inaugural victory in 1991. As Little League Baseball's footprint grows in Central and Eastern Europe, and as the U.S. military presence in the region is reduced, the tournament composition begins to shift. Over the next decade, the region tournament evolves to where over half of all tournament entrants are comprised of native European or African players.
|
| 1994 | Europe achieves its first-ever win over a team from Chinese Taipei when Arabian American Little League (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) defeats Li-Jen Little League from Tainan City, 3-2, on the final day of pool play at the Little League World Series. The result eliminates Chinese Taipei and lifts Saudi Arabia into the international championship game.
|
| 1996 | One year after signing a development agreement, Little League establishes its first Europe Region headquarters facility with the opening of its European Leadership Training Center in Kutno, Poland.
|
| 2000 | The European Region tournament's twenty-team field is the largest in the history of the region. Twelve of the teams are comprised of players native to the African or European countries their teams represent.
|
| 2001 | With the expansion of the Little League World Series from eight to sixteen qualifiers, the European Region begins hosting two region championship tournaments. A reconstituted Europe Region tournament focuses on native European and African players, and a new Transatlantic Region tournament is held for leagues representing expatriot communities. Khovrino Little League (Moscow, Russia), becomes the first team comprised of native European players to participate in the Little League World Series following their 12-2 victory over Tblisi YMCA Little League (Georgia) in the Europe Region championship game.
|
| 2003 | Khovrino returned to the Little League World Series as the Europe Region representative, and became the first native European team to secure a victory in South Williamsport with a 2-0 victory over Guam Central Little League (Hagatna, Guam) on August 17, 2003.
|
| 2004 | The Europe Region tournament is renamed as the EMEA Region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) to better describe the geography its leagues represent.
|
| 2008 | Little League Baseball entered into an agreement with the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) to partner in developing the sport in Europe. Little League agrees to provide training materials, clinics, and other development resources, and the CEB pledges to encourage its members to charter their youth baseball programs with Little League Baseball to take advantage of these support and development resources. The agreement has been extended several times with both CEB and its successor organization, the World Baseball Softball Confederation Europe (WBSC Europe). By 2023, the partnership has resulted in Little League surpassing more than 1,300 registered teams in the Europe-Africa region across all baseball and softball age divisions.
|
| 2008 | Little League Baseball evolves its two European-based region tournaments, renaming the EMEA Region as the Europe Region, and replacing the Transatlantic Region with a new MEA tournament for leagues located in the Middle East and Africa.
|
| 2011 | Rev. John Foundation Little League (Kampala, Uganda) becomes the first African league to win a region championship after defeating Arabian American Little League, 6-4, in the MEA Region championship game. Uganda is unable to compete in the Little League World Series when the U.S. State Department declines to issue visas to one or more of the team’s players. The State Department cited discrepancies in the answers given to unspecified questions in interviews during the visa process. Little League Baseball confirms that it saw no discrepancies in the team's paperwork, but accepts the State Department ruling and instead invites region runner-up Arabian American Little League to compete in South Williamsport as the MEA representative. The next year, a different Uganda league, Lugazi Little League, also wins the MEA Region tournament and becomes the first African league to participate in the Little League World Series.
|
| 2013 | The MEA tournament is discontinued, and Little League Baseball assigns Middle Eastern teams to the Asia-Pacific Region in a structure that closely resembles how FIFA organizes global football. The Europe Region tournament is replaced with a Europe-Africa Region tournament that encompasses all tournament entrants from both continents.
|
| 2015 | AVRS Secondary School Little League (Kampala, Uganda) wins the Europe-Africa Region tournament, and becomes the first African team to win a game at the Little League World Series when it defeats Los Bravos de Pontezuela Little League (Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic), 4-1, in the series' opening game.
|
| 2018 | Little League Baseball intoduces a qualifying tournament for the Europe-Africa Region as a means of managing the size of the tournament field and facilitating more games for teams representing countries with lower participation levels. The tournament, which is played in Kutno during the week prior to the region tournament, determines two-to-four qualifiers for the region tournament, and those qualifiers join teams from countries with a more robust Little League presence in the region tournament.
|
Click here to return to the Europe-Africa Region tournament main menu.
The Unpage brings you unprecedented tournament coverage.
Thank you for visiting Unpage Publications!
Contact the Unpage.
Copyright © 2026, Four Six Three LLC. All rights reserved.