France's Ambassador to Bulgaria on Saturday officially kicked off the European Championship P?tanque Men 2015 taking place in the Black Sea resort of Albena until Sunday.

Teams from France, Belgium, Spain and Italy - the best on the continent- will compete in this year's European tournament alongside professionals and amateurs from 36 countries.

The event is being held under the patronage of French Ambassador Xavier Lapeyre de Cabanes.

Championnat europ?ende p?tanque pour lapremi?re fois en Bulgarie ! Европейско първенство по петанк за пъпръв път в БГ pic.twitter.com/zoYDGiPl2a

— X Lapeyre de Cabanes (@France_Bulgarie) September 26, 2015

"For the first time, an international p?tanque contest will take place in Bulgaria... A French person, and especially for the Ambassador of France, takes pride in seeing that their country has successfully exported to Bulgaria a game so French as p?tanque," His Excellency has said in a statement.

In his words, some 300 000 people in France are official p?tanque players, being club members.

In Bulgaria, aficionados, spectators or just curious people are increasingly finding new places to play or watch.

The capital Sofia is a good example - an improvised p?tanque "pitch" just meters from the Sofia University and the National Library has seen hundreds of games in the past few years.