The European Transnational Championships organised by the EBL will take place between the 3rd and 17th June 2023, while The Italian Mixed Teams Championships will take place between the 1st and 4th June 2023. Therefore, the overlap does not allow Italian players involved in the former competition to take place in the latter.
On the 31st October, the EBL sent a letter to the Italian Federation (FIGB), asking to change the dates.
On the 5th December the Italian Federation (FIGB) replied to the EBL’s letter, stating that they do not want to change their calendar.
What brought the FIGB to refuse the EBL’s invite to move the Italian Mixed Teams Championships?
The FIGB explained to Napolitan Club that the EBL’s Ttransnational is open to any players (rather than the Countries’ representative teams), so it attracts international-level players who have a sponsor. According to the FIGB, very few players would be disadvantaged by the competitions’ overlap, no more than twenty people. Therefore, in their view, the date clash will only damage the Italian pros who cannot play in both. On the other hand the Italian Federation claims to want to make life easier for around 600 players who can play in the Italian Mixed Teams Championships, making the most of an Italian bank holiday that leads to a 4-day weekend (as in Italy June 2nd is a National Holiday).
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