Academica de Coimbra was founded as the student sport club of the University of Coimbra, a city with a population of roughly 100,000 located 200km (125 miles) north of Lisbon. In 2009 the club won their third Portuguese Championship (2005, 1997) earning a birth for the European Cup Qualifier in Solingen. The team is headed by player/coach Ed Jeffrey, a national team player for England.
The Oslo Pretenders have been the titans of Norwegian baseball, winning a total of 15 titles since 1991. Since 2001 they have earned consecutive entries into European Cup Qualifiers, and in 2009 finished with a 3-2 record in their group, nearly missing out on a birth to the final round of the Belgian tournament. In the Norwegian Baseball League, comprised of 6 teams, the Pretenders hold down two spots – represented by Pretenders 1 and 2. Mister Baseball (www.mister-baseball.com) places the team just outside of the Top 50 in his ranking of Europe’s top teams.
The Therwil Flyers qualified for the Cup Qualifier in Solingen by laying claim to the 2009 championship in Switzerland. The 8-time Swiss champions celebrated a ‘Double’ in 2009: in addition to their baseball championship, the Flyers ladies brought home the softball championship. The star of the team is American player/coach J.B. Tucker, formerly in the Seattle Mariners organization from 2005 to 2007 and who reached Single A. Located just south of Basel, Therwil has a population of nearly 10,000. In 2009, the Bern Cardinals represented Switzerland in the European Cup Qualifier, winning the group before falling to the French champion Templiers Senats in a playoff. In the inofficial rankings of European baseball clubs, the Therwil Flyers come in at number 34.
The ‘Devils’ from Miejska Gorka took the 2009 Polish Championship in a convincing way, running off 15 consecutive wins through the end of the regular season and playoffs, and displacing Kutno from their hold at the top of Polish Baseball. Mister Baseball rates the team as 47th best in Europe. Miejska Gorka, population 3000, is located in Poland 150km (95 miles) due east of Cottbus, Germany.
The big unknown among the field of ECQ participants is the team MGPU-SYOS #42 from Moscow. An internet site for the squad could not be found, but this much is sure: the 2009 Russian Runner-Up and 2008 Champion has had their share of international success, winning the 2009 European Cup Qualifier in the Czech Republic by going undefeated, and in 2008 was in the A-Pool among the top teams in Europe. The team is one of seven from Moscow that participate in the 11-team Russian Baseball League. According to Mister Baseball, the team ranks 29th in the Top 50 rankings, just eight places behind the host Alligators.
The Solingen Alligators, 2006 German Champion and Second Place at the 2006 CEB Cup in Spain, gained their spot in the European Cup Qualifier when the Mannheim Tornados (Second Place 2008 and 2009 in the German Bundesliga, Winner of 2009 Belgian ECQ) passed on the chance. After missing out on hosting the 2010 European Championships, Solingen took a chance on hosting the European Cup Qualifier. Head coach Andy Fleischacker and his men are lead on the field by German National Team members Andre Hughes and Dominik Wulf, and American imports Josh Rickards and Evan Porter. The Solingen Alligators are ranked 21st on Mister Baseball’s Top 50 list.