2018 Earth Water Baseball Classic

The 2018 FIWBA Earth Water Baseball Classic Classic (EWBC) was an international professional water baseball competition, held from October 27 - November 18, 2018 in Hungary. This was the tenth edition of the Earth Water Baseball Classic, a biannual event that dates back to 2000.

This was the first EWBC to be held in Hungary and the third to be held in the Europe region (as the 2002 edition was held in Germany and the 2012 edition was in France).

Sweden defeated Palau in the Championship Series, to claim their first Earth Water Baseball Classic Title.

Host Selection Process
The Deadline for Bids was November 30, 2013. According to The Rules, the official rule book for International Water Baseball, bids were not allowed from a region that was set to host either of the two previous classics. Therefore, bids were not accepted from and Boceania (as Palau hosted the 2014 Earth Water Baseball Classic) and North America (as the 2016 edition was held in the United States).

Bids were submitted by Afghanistan, Hungary, Slovenia, and a joint bid by the four nations of Great Brittain to host the games. On November 24, 2014, after three rounds of voting, Hungary was selected as the host nation.

Stadiums
Eight stadiums in Hungary shared hosting duties.


 * Budapest (stadium 1) - Gang C, R16-1, Final
 * Budapest (stadium 2) - Gang H, R16-6, SF-2
 * Budapest (stadium 3) - Gang A, R16-2, SF-1
 * Debrecen - Gang B, R16-7, QF-2
 * Kecskemet -  Gang E, R16-5
 * Miskolc - Gang D, R16-8, QF-3,
 * Pecs - Gang G, R16-3, QF-4
 * Szeged -  Gang F, R16-4, QF-1

Teams and Qualification
Thirty-two teams qualified for this tournament. The host (Hungary) and the defending champion (United States) automatically qualified, while the remaining 30 were determined during the qualification period from October 2017 through April 2018.

The number of spots given to each association was determined by FIWBA.

North and Central America and the Carribbean: 7 (plus the USA automatically qualified as defending champion)

Europe: 8 (plus Hungary automatically qualified as host)

Broceania: 3

South America: 3

Asia: 4

Africa: 4

The final spot was given to the winner of the Feeney Cup, a tourament held in April between the 8th place in North America, 9th place team in Europe, the 4th place teams in Broceania and South America, and the 5th place teams in Asia and Africa. Per tradition, the Feeney Cup is held in the same venue as the EWBC Final, which this year is in Budapest.

Qualification based on Association
Qualification was held from October-November 2015 in various locations throughout the world


 * North America: United States (d.c.), Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico,Panama, Turks and Caicos
 * Europe: Hungary (host), Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine
 * Broceania: Australia, Palau, Tahiti
 * South America: Brazil, Peru, Uruguay
 * Asia: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan
 * Africa: Cote D'Ivorie, Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia

Feeney Cup
The top team not to qualify in each association was assigned to the Feeney Cup, a three-day event in April 2016 tournament to determine the final team to qualify for the EWBC. The Feeney Cup participants were Ghana, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, the UAE, and Venezuela.

Round 1: March 31

Semi-Finals: April 1
 * Venezuela 12, Ghana 1
 * UAE 8, Trinidad and Tobago 7 (21)

Final: April 2
 *  'Netherlands 4, Venezuela 2
 * UAE 8, New Zealand 7 (10)


 * Netherlands 8, UAE 3

Draw
The draw was held in Akron, Ohio on June 27, 2018. Teams were divided into four pools of eight teams, each Gang would consist of one team from each pool

Pool 1 (Host, champ, and top 6): Hungary, USA, Germany, Palau, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, France

Pool 2 (Asia, Africa, Broceania): Iran, Uzbekistan, Cote D'Ivorie, Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia, Australia, Tahiti

Pool 3 (7 Europe + 1 the Americas): Austria, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, Canada

Pool 4 (The Americas): Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Turks and Caicos, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay

The teams were drawn into the following Gangs


 * Gang A: Hungary, Jamaica, Slovenia, The Gambia
 * Gang B: Germany, Australia, Canada, Peru
 * Gang C: South Korea, Panama, Uzbekistan, the Netherlands
 * Gang D: Palau, Austria, Uruguay, Nigeria
 * Gang E: USA, Tahiti, Sweden, Turks and Caicos
 * Gang F: Japan, Senegal, England, Costa Rica
 * Gang G: Mexico, Brazil, Iran, Italy
 * This would certainly be a "gang of death" if this was a soccer World Cup.
 * Gang H: France, Honduras, Ukraine, Cote D'Ivorie

Format
The tournament was set up similar to the World Cup and most football (soccer) tournaments, in that it contains a Gang Stage and a Knockout Stage. It is illegal to refer to the Gang Stage as the "Group Stage," and violators will be suspended for one international WBB game and one club WBB game for each offense starting with their second offense. The author of this article was given special permission from FIWBA president Jimenez Li.

The Gang Stage ran from October 27-November 1. Each nation played two games against each rival naion (one as the designated "home" team and one as the designated "guest" team), for a total of six games. If a Gang Stage game (excluding a tiebreaker game) is tied after ten innings, it was considered a tie in the standings. Ties counted as half-win, half-loss when computing a win percentage.

The top two teams from each Gang after the six games advanced to the Knockout Stage. If there was a tie in the standings, it would be broken via one-game tiebreaker on November 4. If the tie involved more than two teams, then a home-run derby would be held on November 4 to cut the field down to two teams, who play in such a tie-breaker. This has never happened in the history of the EWBC.

The Knockout Stage consisted of four rounds, each of which were best-of-three series. The Round of 16 (November 4-6) pit a Gang Champion against the runner up of a different Gang. This round was followed by the Quarter-finals (November 8-10), Semi-finas (November 12-14), and Championship (November 16-18).

Knockout Stage
In all rounds, the top team listed was the designated "home" team for Games 1 and 3, if necessary. The bottom team listed was the designated "home" team for Game 2.

Eighth-finals
Matchup 1 Matchup 2 Matchup 3 Matchup 4 Matchup 5 Matchup 6 Matchup 7 Matchup 8

Quarter-finals
Matchup 1 Matchup 2 Matchup 3 Matchup 4

Semi-finals
Matchup 1 Matchup 2

Final
Matchup 1

The Victor
Sweden

The Spoils
As Champion, Sweden was automatically entered into the 2020 Earth Water Baseball Classic in Japan. Team members each received US$2,000,000, a trophy that says "you did it," and a hot plate. Also, fans of the Sweden team will be allowed to don shirts that recognize their championship. Since this is a biannual event, these shirts were in style for at least two years, except when a fat person wears a shirt that is too small, in which the shirt will never be in style.

As runner-up, each Palau team member received a silver Second place trophy, and $100,000. Shirts were produced to be sold in Palau, but will instead be sent back to the FIWBA Warehouse in Chesterland, Ohio, in case Palau wins a future EWBC.

Members of teams who lost in the semi-finals received a participation trophy and $27,000

Members of quarter-final teams received a participation trophy and $25,000

Members of teams who lost in the eighth-finals received a participation trophy and a $23,000.

Members of teams who failed to advance past the Gang Stage received a participation trophy and $19,000.