posted Sep 8th, 2006 - While the German 8-way teams get ready for the first part of the showdown at the DFV-Cup this afternoon, the main event in Europe actually takes place in Belgium. The Spa Skydiving Center hosts once again the championship event of the European Skydiving League.

A total of 35 teams have signed up for the ESL medals in all four competition classes. The delegations of the European countries also battle for the ESL trophy "Spirit", which goes to the country that wins the cumulative overall scoring of all teams from the same country, following a specific scoring system.

The AAA Class field has seven teams, another seven teams have signed up for the AA Class. 13 teams compete in the A Class, and the Rookie Class has eight teams registered. The team names are all familar ones since they were already posted several times throughout the regular 2006 season.

The host country Belgium has registered ten teams, and the AAA Class competition will most likely be dominated by the Belgian teams. Spa Hayabusa is the favorite for the gold medals and celebrates the last competition with the line-up of the past years. Sven Ibens will step down, while the rest of the team is in the planning phase for the future.

The Belgium Army team NMPV makes the Belgium presence in the AAA Class even stronger. However, Netherlands' national team Punky Fish has the potential to stop the Belgium teams from taking both top positions. Pulse is the second Dutch team in the AAA Class. The whole delegation from the Netherlands consists of ten teams, as well.

Noene Mandelieu from France, Fusion from Great Britain and the Bad Boyz from the Czech Republic complete the AAA Class field of the ESL Championship. Noene Mandelieu and the Bad Boyz are the only teams from their countries, while Great Britain has its strongest participation in the other competition classes.

The British delegation consists of eight teams, including some of this year's highscorers of the A Class (Wingnutz) and the Rookie Class (Phobia). The British teams have set their eyes on the ESL Spirit and stand a good chance to be in the race for the trophy. However, Belgium and defending overall champion Netherlands are ready to offer strong resistance.

Switzerland and Germany have teams in the ESL competition, as well. The DFV-Cup in Germany made it impossible for more teams to compete in Belgium this weekend. The complete list of teams can already be found on the scores page, the first scores will be posted later today.