posted Jun 28th, 2016 - The ESL Championship 2016 will be hosted for the first time by Germany after the competition site has circled around between Great Britain, Netherlands and Belgium since the inaugural event in 2004.

The hosting rules in the past qualified the winner of the previous ESL Championship as the host for the next event. However, the organizers agreed after the last ESL Championship in 2014 that the European Skydiving League will begin to reach out to other European countries and offer the hosting to other skydiving centers.

The host of the ESL Championship 2016 is not new at all to preparing the drop zone for top events. The Fallschirmsportzentrum Saar (FSZ Saar) in Saarlouis hosted the FAI World Cup 2011 where 21 teams from 13 different countries competed over ten rounds.

FAI World Cup 2011			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	22	27	23	22	26	25	25	24	24	37	255	25.5
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	22	27	23	21	24	25	21	23	24	39	249	24.9
3	Paratec-Saar	DE	16	23	19	15	19	18	16	19	20	31	196	19.6
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	18	21	19	16	19	16	15	19	19	33	195	19.5
5	Gradient Alpha	RU	17	21	17	13	20	20	19	18	17	27	189	18.9
6	EX3MO4	IT	15	19	17	17	17	16	19	18	16	28	182	18.2
7	Bardagi	SE	15	20	17	15	16	14	19	15	17	29	177	17.7

The competition in 2011 took place on home turf for the German national team, Paratec-Saar. Team member Markus Bastuck's family operates the first-class skydiving center, and the 4-way Open Class competition also turned out to become one of the best for a German 4-way team in history. The German national team won the bronze medals after a 1-point battle with Barkli's 4-way lineup.

The FSZ Saar skydiving center also hosted Germany's national championships last year, which were completed successfully after ten rounds in September. The Sun Path Products NSL News reported live from the event site.

Teams from Germany have participated here and there at the ESL Championship but have never played a significant role when it came to winning the ESL Spirit trophy, which goes to the most successful delegation of the participating countries.

German Nationals 2015		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	20,O,P,16	13,18,19	10,11,1	D,2,17	4,L,C,5	22,N,A,H	15,21,3	14,9,M	6,E,8	K,G,B,12	Total	Avg
1	Airbus Illertissen	20	15	13	21	20	20	17	23	20	21	190	19.0
2	AtomiX YUU-Skydive	17	13	12	17	15	17	13	13	13	19	149	14.9
3	FSC Remscheid	17	11	13	16	14	14	14	18	12	11	140	14.0

The special ESL sword is currently in British possession after the victory in 2014. It was the second time that UK teams won the ESL Championship after the first one in 2008. Netherlands (5) and Belgium (4) have been the dominating nations at the ESL Championship since 2004.

Meet Director Mike Pennock hopes that Germany hosting the event for the first time will attract the German teams to compete this year, and then more regularly. Germany has the potential to challenge the dominating ESL nations for the ESL Spirit, as the leaderboard of last year's national championships is showing.

Mike Pennock is a prime choice for running the event as the meet director, even though the Bastuck family knows everything about event management. He directed the FAI World Cup 2015 last year in Teuge, which was just as successful as previous events at FSZ Saar. Registration is open for the ESL Championship 2016.