Greece had qualified for the tournament having finished in tenth position at the 2014 edition of the event, won by the Dutch team, claiming the last remaining automatic spot.

The country’s economic situation, however, led to the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation (HABF) - originally set-up in 1997 to oversee the team's preparations for the 2004 Olympics in Athens - being shut down by the Government, putting their hopes of competing at the tournament in jeopardy.

Without a National Federation recognised by the Confederation of European Baseball, the team would be unable to participate in the event, scheduled to take place from September 9 to 18.

The team’s general manager Tom Mazarakis and former HABF President Panagiotis Mitsiopoulos are due to meet with the Government soon in an attempt to have a new Federation recognised.

“I want to make it clear to the minister that this would really be a serious defeat, and it’s going to have ramifications,” Mazarakis told sportingnews.com.

“There are a lot of people in North America that support the team and have supported the team for a long time.

“The players, and the coaches - it would really be a slap in the face to Greek sports and Greece as a country as a whole.

“To go down and be demoted without even a fight is really sad, and I’m sure there are plenty of countries that would kill to take our spot.”

Should a green light be given to a new Federation being established the team are hoping to raise $35,000 (£25,000/€32,000) through crowdfunding to ensure that it will be able to support the team on a long-term basis.

A total $3,300 (£2,300/€3,000) of the fund would be paid as the entry fee for the European Championships, where Greece would face the challenge of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Russia, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Croatia, Sweden and the host nation The Netherlands in the 12-team event.

The crowdfunding page can be found here