Wikipedia / European Championship
Wikipedia / European Championship
A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
In the plural, the European Championships also refers to a specific combined quadrennial multi-sport event featuring the continental championships for athletics, aquatics, artistic gymnastics, triathlon, rowing, cycling and team golf.
Since European championships are usually open for teams or individual athletes from countries which are members of European sports organisations and some member countries are only partly or not at all situated in the European continent, some non-Europeans also usually take part in these championships. Traditionally, sports teams from Armenia, Georgia, and Israel – all geographically outside Europe – are included in European competitions for cultural and political reasons, while trans-continental countries Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkey (which straddle Europe and Asia), and technically Iceland (which sits on a continental fault line in the Atlantic ocean) and Malta (between Europe and Africa in the Mediterranean) also compete in Europe.
A number of countries maintain departments outside the European continent, but which are considered an integral part of their mother country, including France (e.g. Guadeloupe and New Caledonia), Denmark (Greenland), Spain (e.g. the Canaries) and the Netherlands (the former Netherlands Antilles). Athletes and club teams from these regions are typically eligible for European championships. The overseas territories of the United Kingdom, however, are usually not included unless an individual athlete has transferred allegiance completely to the UK.
In addition, in football, under UEFA, but not in other sports, the Asian country of Kazakhstan also competes in European competition for historical reasons, while South African clubs participate in the top-level club championship in European rugby union called European Rugby Champions Cup.
Games
Championships
American football
Aquatics and water sports
Athletics
Australian rules football
Badminton
Baseball and softball
Bandy
European Cup (for club teams)
Basketball
Biathlon
Boxing
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Canoeing
Chess
Cricket
Curling
Cycling
Cyclo-cross: UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships
Mountain bike: European Mountain Bike Championships
Road cycling: European Road Cycling Championships
Track cycling: UEC European Track Championships
Darts
Dragon Boat
European Dragon Boat Championships
Equestrian
Fencing
World Fencing Championships, open only to European fencers from 1921 to 1937
Field hockey
Fistball
Flag football
Football and beach soccer
Futsal
Go
Gymnastics
Handball and beach handball
Indoor hockey
Judo
Karate
Kickboxing
Korfball
Minifootball
Motorsport and motorcycle sport
AIACR European Championship (1931–1939)
European Formula Two Championship (1967–1984)
European Touring Car Championship (1963–1988; 2000–2004)
Multi-sport
Pétanque
Pitch and putt
Professional wrestling
Quidditch
Racquetball
Rink hockey
Rowing
Rugby league
Rugby union
Sailing
Savate
Shooting
Snooker
Squash
Sumo
Table tennis
Taekwondo
Triathlon
Volleyball and beach volleyball
Weightlifting
Wheelchair rugby
Wrestling
Winter sports
European Ski Orienteering Championships
European Snowboard Championships
European Freestyle Skiing Championships
European Ski Marathon Championships
European Snow Volleyball Championships (CEV EuroSnowVolley)
European Winter Triathlon Championships
European Ice Climbing Championships
European Snowshoe Championships
European Grass Skiing Championship
European Snowcross Championship
European Snowmobile Championship - Snowmobile Enduro European Cup
See also
European Games, a multi-sport event between competitors from all nations in Europe
References