NXL European Championships

The NXL European Championships is an international speedball tournament organised by NXL Europe, the European competition circuit of the National Xball League (NXL). The event serves as the concluding major tournament of the European championship season, featuring professional, semi-professional and amateur competition.[1]

The current championship series was introduced in 2021 at Chantilly, France. Since 2022, the event has been held at Ace Paintball in Dreux, France.[1][2]

The tournament has also hosted women's professional competition and other formats, alongside separate international national-team championships administered by the United Paintball Federation (UPBF).

History

Background

NXL Europe began operating in 2018 following the conclusion of the Millennium Series, which had organised international European paintball tournaments from 1999 to 2017.

During its first two seasons, NXL Europe operated a multi-event professional and amateur championship, with concluding tournaments held in France in 2018 and the Netherlands in 2019.[1]

Following disruption to international competition during the COVID-19 pandemic, the circuit introduced an event explicitly titled the European Championships in 2021.

2021 championship

The 2021 European Championships took place at Chantilly, France, from 2 to 5 September.

Toulouse TonTons won the professional X-Ball competition, defeating Joy Division in the final.

Paris Camp Carnage finished third, ahead of Virst Factory Team.[3]

The tournament also included semi-professional and amateur competition, traditional 10-player paintball and international national-team divisions.

Move to Dreux

In 2022, the European Championships moved to Ace Paintball in Dreux, France.

The tournament took place from 15 to 18 September.

Toulouse TonTons retained the professional championship, finishing ahead of Paris Camp Carnage and Lucky 15s Staffordshire.[4]

The event also included women's X-Ball competition, with Drakaina winning the women's division.

Dreux remained the championship venue in subsequent seasons.

2023 to 2025

The 2023 European Championships took place from 30 August to 3 September.

Toulouse TonTons won the professional championship for a third consecutive edition, defeating Joy Division in the final. Virst Factory Lodz finished third.[5]

At the 2024 event, held from 28 August to 1 September, SCALP won the professional title, with Lucky 15s Staffordshire finishing second and Ronholt Dynamite third.[6]

The 2025 European Championships took place from 27 to 31 August.

Breakout Spa won the professional competition, ahead of London Attrition and Lucky 15s Staffordshire.[7]

2026 championship

The 2026 NXL European Championships took place at Ace Paintball in Dreux from 2 to 6 September.

The tournament concluded the three-event NXL Europe season, following the Czech Cup in May and British Invitational in July.[1]

Ranger Warsaw of Poland won the professional competition, finishing ahead of LTF and Joy Division.

The result completed a season in which Ranger Warsaw won all three professional NXL Europe tournaments, securing the 2026 season championship.[8][9]

The event also featured WNXL, semi-professional, divisional, three-player and seven-player competitions.

Professional results

The following table records the highest-finishing teams in the professional division of each European Championships event since 2021.

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third place	Venue
2021	Toulouse TonTons	Joy Division	Paris Camp Carnage	Chantilly, France
2022	Toulouse TonTons	Paris Camp Carnage	Lucky 15s Staffordshire	Dreux, France
2023	Toulouse TonTons	Joy Division	Virst Factory Lodz	Dreux, France
2024	SCALP	Lucky 15s Staffordshire	Ronholt Dynamite	Dreux, France
2025	Breakout Spa	London Attrition	Lucky 15s Staffordshire	Dreux, France
2026	Ranger Warsaw	LTF	Joy Division	Dreux, France

Results are taken from the official PBLeagues event rankings.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

These are individual tournament results and should be distinguished from the overall NXL Europe season championships.

Competition structure

The European Championships uses a divisional structure accommodating teams with different competition classifications.

Formats have included:

Professional five-player X-Ball.
Semi-professional five-player X-Ball.
Divisional amateur X-Ball.
Women's professional X-Ball through the Women's National Xball League.
Three-player competition.
Traditional mechanical-marker competition.

The specific divisions and formats vary between seasons.[2]

Teams are registered through PBLeagues International, which also records match schedules, scores and final rankings.

Relationship with international championships

The European Championships has also served as the host event for separate national-team competitions.

These championships are administered by the United Paintball Federation and involve national representative teams rather than independent professional or amateur clubs.

In 2026, the UPBF Paintball World Championship took place at Ace Paintball on 2 and 3 September, immediately preceding the main NXL European Championships professional competition.

The national-team event attracted competitors from 25 countries, with championships organised in men's, women's, veterans', under-19 and under-16 categories.[10]

Although the competitions shared facilities and tournament infrastructure, the UPBF World Championship and NXL European Championships were distinct competitions.

References

External links