The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the highest authoritative body of regulation and organization of table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 regarded by International Table Tennis Federation

International Table Tennis Federation

The International Table Tennis Federation is the governing body for all national table tennis associations.-Founding history:The ITTF was founded in 1926, the nine founding members being Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, India, Sweden and Wales...

. It was founded in 1957, and currently has 56 member associations. It is responsible for holding various important competitions for individual players, nations and clubs in the continent.

Founding History

The idea of an organization for table tennis in Europe came up in 1956 at Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. It was first founded on March 13th, 1957, by 17 members: Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, German Democratic Republic

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

, West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 with frenchman Jean Belot being the first President. Currently ETTU includes 56 members.

Members

List of total 56 member associations:
- Albanian Table Tennis Federation - Federació Andorrana de Tenis de Taula - Armenian Table Tennis Federation - Österreichischer Tisch-Tennis Verband - Azerbaijan Table Tennis Federation - Belarus Table Tennis Federation - Koninklijke Belgische Tafeltennisbond (Dutch) / Fédération Royale Belge de Tennis de Table (French) - Table Tennis Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina - Bulgarian Table Tennis Federation - Croatian Table Tennis Association - Cyprus Table Tennis Association - Czech Table Tennis Association - Danish Table Tennis Association - English Table Tennis Association

English Table Tennis Association

The English Table Tennis Association is the national governing body responsible for table tennis in England and has been affiliated to the ITTF since the formation of the ETTA in 1927.- Events/Tournaments :...

 - Estonian Table Tennis Association - Bordtennisamband Foroya - Finnish Table Tennis Association - Fédération Française de Tennis de Table - Table Tennis Federation of Georgia - Deutscher Tischtennis-Bund - Hellenic Table Tennis Association - Guernsey Table Tennis Association - Hungarian Table Tennis Association - Icelandic Table Tennis Association - Irish Table Tennis Association - Isle of Man Table Tennis Association - Israeli Table Tennis Association - Italian Table Tennis Federation - Jersey Table Tennis Association

- Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo

Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo

The Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo is the governing body responsible for table tennis in Kosovo....

 - Table Tennis Federation of Latvia - Liechtensteiner Tischtennisverband - Lithuanian Table Tennis Federation - Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Tennis de Table - Macedonian Table Tennis Association - Malta Table Tennis Association - Moldova Table Tennis Federation - Fédération Monégasque de Tennis de Table - Table Tennis Association of Montenegro - Nederlandse Tafeltennisbond - Norges Bordtennisforbund - Polish Table Tennis Federation - Federação Portuguesa de Tenis de Mesa - Romanian Table Tennis Federation - Table Tennis Federation of Russia - Federazione Sammarinese Tennistavolo - Table Tennis Scotland - Table Tennis Association of Serbia - Slovak Table Tennis Association - Slovenian Table Tennis Association - Real Federación Espanola de Tenis de Mesa - Swedish Table Tennis Association - Swiss Table Tennis Federation - Turkish Table Tennis Federation - Ukraine Table Tennis Federation - Table Tennis Association of Wales Ltd

Table Tennis Association of Wales

The Table Tennis Association of Wales is the national governing body of table tennis in Wales. It is affiliated to the International Table Tennis Federation and the European Table Tennis Union, and was a founding member of both organisations—in 1926 and 1956 respectively.The TTAW has...

Role

ETTU organizes the major European international tournaments and holds an official European rankings for individual players. The following events are regularly organized:

Event	First Edition		Details
	City	Year
European Championships (EC) Table Tennis European Championships The European Table Tennis Championships were first held in 1958. Between 1958 and 2002, the European Championships were held every two years in the even years. From 2003 they were held in odd years. Since 2008 the tournament has been held annually...	Budapest Budapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...	1958	Organized yearly in September, with team, single and double events.
European Youth Championships (EYC) Table Tennis European Youth Championships The Table Tennis European Youth Championships were first held in 1955 in Stuttgart. The tournament has been held yearly . The tournament included several competitions during its history...	Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....	1955	Organized yearly in July, for Junior and Cadet players, with team, single and double events.
European Veteran Championships (EVC)	Vienna Vienna Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...	1995	Organized every odd year in May to June, with single and double events in 8 different age categories.
European Mixed Doubles Championships (EMDC)	Subotica Subotica Subotica is a city and municipality in northern Serbia, in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...	2009	The mixed double has been removed from the EC in 2008 and replaced by this dedicated event organized the first time in 2009.
EuroCircuit	-	2011	In phase of organization.
European Nations League (ENL)	-	2009 - 2012	Starting in 2009 will be played over a period of 4 years.
Olympic Games Qualifying Tournament (OGQ)	-	2004	Every four years in March or April, during each Olympic year.
Olympic Youth Games Qualifying Tournament (OYGQ)	Novara Novara Novara is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With c. 105,000 inhabitants, it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is an important crossroads for commercial traffic along the routes from Milan to Turin...	2010	Every four years in March or April, during each Olympic year.
Europe Table Tennis Super Cup (ETTSC)	Kazan Kazan Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...	2007	Yearly in the last quarter year, for the eight highest ranked European men's senior players.
Euro-Asia Cup Euro-Asia Cup The Euro-Asia Cup, also called Euro-Asia all stars series, is a table tennis competition organised by the Asian Table Tennis Union and the European Table Tennis Union ....	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...	2009	Starting in 2009, the event will take place twice per year, one in Asia, one in Europe.
Europe Top-12 Tournament (TOP-12) Europe Top-12 The Europe Top-12 is an European table tennis tournament organized by the European Table Tennis Union on a yearly basis between the twelve strongest players in Europe. The tournament was first held in 1971 for both the men's and women's competition, adopting a single round-robin format...	Zadar Zadar Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...	1971	Yearly in February, for the highest ranked European senior players.
Europe Youth Top-10 Tournament (TOP-10)	Republic of San Marino	1985	Yearly in January, for the highest ranked European Junior players.
European Champions League European Champions League (table tennis) European Champions League is the seasonal table tennis competition for the highest ranked European club teams and is regarded as the most important international club competition in Europe. It is organised by the European Table Tennis Union and replaced the European Club Cup of Champions , the...	-	1960 - 1961	Per season, for the highest ranked European club teams.
ETTU Cup (ETC) ETTU Cup The ETTU Cup is the second largest tournament for clubs in European table tennis, after the European Champions League. The European Table Tennis Union has organized this cup since the 1964-65 season for men and teams, and also for women a year later....	-	1964 - 1965	Per season, for the best European Men's and Women's club teams not entitled to participate in the European Champions League.
European Youth Open (EYO)	-	-
TT Intercup	Wien Wien Wien is the German language name for Vienna, the city and federal state in Austria.* Wien , in Vienna, Austria* Theater an der Wien, a theater in Vienna located at the former river WienWien may also refer to:...	1990-1991
TT Intercup for Ladies	-	2008