The last day of European Motoball Championship in Budel, The Netherlands, began with youth team matches: the Netherlands lost against the youth team of France with the result of 2-6. The youth team Germany drew with France with the result of 2-2.
The day before the young Germans defeated the youth team Netherlands by 1-6. The young Germans became the first unnoficial champions of 2016 European Motoball Championship. All young teams showed good game skills, sign that they are capable of becoming senior team players soon.
3rd place match: France-Belarus 0-5
The battle for the 3rd place began with great energy by Belarus players. They looked much more motivated and gave their all to overpower France in almost all aspects of the game. So it was a well deserved victory. Belarus proudly won their medals.
Final: Russia-Germany 6-2
Russia was hungry for the title of Champions: they began their game carefully, but were effective in attack and in defence. Germany is still a young team and their manager will need some time to build a close knit team. Minute after minute Russia began to take control of the game and defeated Germany. Russia won the Championship for the first time since 2012, but the second place was a very good result for Germany, too.
Spectators were happy of this beautiful event and showed great respect for every team during the closing ceremony. Organizers declared the presence of over 15.000 spectators during the Championship. The teams were also happy, not all of them reached the result they wanted, but they definitely gained very good experience.
FIM Europe deputy president Martin de Graaff was present during the last two days. “Spectators and teams enjoyed this excellent event of almost one week. The matches were many times exciting”, commented Mr. de Graaff. “On Saturday and Sunday three teams of young riders battled for victory, and this initiative is good for the future development of motoball. The youth team of Germany won this event for the first time”.
