The Baseball5 World Cup (B5WC, and sometimes referred to as the Senior Baseball5 World Cup)WBSC Baseball5 World Cups Hosting Bid Outline
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World Baseball Softball Confederation The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the international Sports governing body, governing body for the sports of baseball, softball, Baseball5 and Blind baseball. It was established in 2013 by the merger of the International Baseba ...

is a mixed-gender

Baseball5 Baseball5 (B5 or BB5) is a simplified variation of baseball and softball which is governed at the international level alongside those sports by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The game revolves around two teams of five player ...

(B5) world championship that occurs every two years, with the first edition held in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

in Mexico and contested by 12 countries. It is governed by the

(WBSC).

History

The inaugural B5WC was originally planned to happen in December 2020 in Mexico. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

led to the delay of the B5WC to June 2021; however, the continued impact of the pandemic delayed the B5WC further. It was later decided that the WC would be played every two years, starting in 2022. The 14-team 2020 European Baseball5 Championship held in February and March saw France and Lithuania take the two available Europe berths to qualify for the inaugural B5WC. The Oceania qualifier was scheduled to be played in Australia in 2021. The Asia qualifiers were scheduled to be played in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

in April 2021, but were then postponed due to COVID-19 to August 17–19, 2022. The first edition of the tournament, held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, was won by Cuba, who finished the championship undefeated. In April 2023, it was confirmed that Hong Kong will host the second edition of the tournament, from October 7 to 12, 2024. On the eve of the tournament, it was announced that future editions will have 16 teams (split into four groups) and play 56 games total. In October 2024 it was announced that

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

will host the 2026 tournament.

Format

The 16 countries participating in the World Cup are geographically broken down as follows: * The host nation automatically qualifies. * The host nation of the previous edition automatically qualifies. * 4 countries from the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

* 3 from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

* 2 from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

* 3 from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

* 1 from

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

* 1 Wild Card (selected by WBSC) The 16 countries play a total of 56 games over four or five days. Each team has five active players and eight players total on the roster, with the mixed-gender nature of the tournament requiring teams to have half of their roster to be of each gender, and at least two active players per gender in the game. Players must be a minimum of 15 years old (though they can be 14 during the tournament and turn 15 later in the year).

Results

Medal table

Participating nations

* * * * * * — Hosts

References

External links

*
Baseball5
at WBSC.org {{Main world championships World Baseball Softball Confederation competitions

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

Recurring sporting events established in 2022