Europe first participated in the Little League World Series in 1960. Teams from Europe were given a berth in the LLWS each year between 1960 and 2000 (with the exception of the temporary ban of international teams in 1975). In 2001, the region was split into two co-terminus regions: Europe (later EMEA) Region and Transatlantic Region. The Europe Region comprised mostly native European teams while the Transatlantic Region comprised mostly American expatriates. This distinction was eliminated in 2008; from 2008 to 2012, teams made up of either native Europeans or American expatriates were eligible to qualify from the Europe Region.
Starting with the 2013 LLWS, the region was renamed the Europe and Africa Region. African countries were added as a result of a major reorganization of the international (non–U.S.) regions. This move was triggered by Little League's announcement that Australia would receive its own LLWS berth starting in 2013. Two Middle Eastern countries, Israel and Turkey, have been part of European regions since they instituted Little League programs, as they were then members of the European zone of the International Baseball Federation and remain in the same zone under baseball's modern international governing body, the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Israel and Turkey have stayed in the renamed Europe and Africa Region to this day.[1]
No team from the European region has ever reached the final of the Little League World Series. The best finishes for a European team occurred in 1979, 1993 and 1994, when European teams reached the semifinals. Aviano, Italy, made it that far — in the 8-team format — in 1979. Kaiserslautern, Germany and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia made the International final in back-to-back years in 1993 and 1994.
Austria
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Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ethiopia
France
Gabon
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Israel
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Lithuania
Moldova
Netherlands
Nigeria
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
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Switzerland
Tanzania
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
Zambia
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British Hong Kong.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Southern_Rhodesia_(1924%E2%80%931964).svg.png){kind=small}
Southern Rhodesia.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Rhodesia_(1968%E2%80%931979).svg.png){kind=small}
Rhodesia
United KingdomIn 2001, with the LLWS expanding to sixteen teams, the European region split into two co-terminous regions. The Europe region consisted of teams that were primarily made up of players native to each country; no team could have more than three players from the United States, Canada, or Japan. The Europe region was named the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region between 2004 and 2007; however, no Middle Eastern or African team participated in qualifiers for the EMEA Series berth (although Kenya sent a team to the European qualifier in 2001[2] and South Africa did the same in 2003[3]). In 2008, Little League removed the native players rule and split the EMEA and Transatlantic region into the Europe and Middle East-Africa regions. The following teams represented the European region after 2000:
The Transatlantic region encompassed the same territory as the Europe/EMEA region, but consisted of teams that were made up of at least 51% American, Canadian, or Japanese citizens.
Below are the champions of the Transatlantic region, along with participants for each year. The year's winner is indicated in green.
From 2008 to 2012, Europe had its own region.
Below are the champions of the Europe region, along with participants for each year. The year's winner is indicated in green. A Dash, "-", indicates country had no participant that year.
As noted above, the Europe Region was expanded to include Africa in 2013. Results are as of the 2017 Little League World Series.
Starting in 2018, a qualification tournament was added into the Europe and Africa regional tournament as a way of expanding for other countries and teams to be involved. Ten teams have an automatic bid into the regional tournament based on participation and enrollment figures. Additional countries wishing to enter the tournament are placed into the qualifier tournament. The format of the qualifier tournament is a round robin with four teams advancing to an elimination round where the two semifinal winners advanced to the double-elimination regional tournament, although a different format was used in 2023 where four participants in the qualification tournament advanced to the regional tournament.
Below are the champions of the Europe and Africa, along with participants for each year. The year's winner is indicated in green. A Dash, "-", indicates country had no participant that year.
Table includes results from Europe, EMEA, Transatlantic and Europe and Africa regions through the 2023 Little League World Series. Italics indicates team is no longer either a part of the European region or the African region that participate in the joint regional championship.