European Athletics is pleased to confirm that the Norwegian city of Bergen will host the first ever edition of the European Team Championships First League on June 20/21, 2009.
Situated on the south-west coast, Bergen is Norway’s second largest city behind Oslo but can boast a fine athletics tradition of its own having hosted the IAAF Golden League in 2004 when the Bislett Stadium in Oslo was closed for renovations.
Svein Arne Hansen, the President of the Norwegian Athletics Federation and Vice President of European Athletics said: “The Norwegian public is delighted to have been awarded an event of this stature and I have no doubt they will come out in their thousands to support the event and make it a huge success”
“Athletics has a huge following in Norway and we have been looking forward to hosting a major European event for some time. The Team Championships is a new and exciting event with promotion, relegation and some innovative rule changes on display and I am sure it will have a big impact for the wider future of the sport”
Like the Super League, which will take place on the same weekend in Leiria, Portugal the First league will have 12 teams competing and promises to be a spectacular weekend of athletics throughout Europe.
The teams who will compete in Bergen are: Belarus, Slovenia, Romania, Turkey, Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland, Serbia, and the hosts Norway who will be led by the double Olympic Javelin Champion Andreas Thorkildsen.
The remaining two venues will be announced during October.
The other divisions for the 2009 European Team Championships are as follows:
Super League: Leiria, Portugal.
Russia, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Ukraine, Greece, Sweden, Czech Republic, Portugal
Second League: Venue TBC
Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Austria, Cyprus
Third League: Venue TBC
Moldova, Israel, Denmark, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iceland, Luxembourg, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Armenia, AASSE, Albania, Andorra, FYR of Macedonia
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