WBSC reveals Continent Quota for expanded Baseball5 and Youth Baseball5 World Cups
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announced the new continental quota allocations for the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup and the WBSC Youth Baseball World Cup following the increase in the number of participating teams from 12 to 16.
The WBSC Executive Board approved the expansion of the two events - announced prior to the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup Hong Kong 2024, which saw Cuba defend their Baseball5 World Champions title - following the extensive growth of the sport globally and outstanding success of the inaugural tournaments.
WBSC Baseball5 World Cup & WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup Continental Quota
- Africa: 2 Teams
- Americas: 4 Teams
- Asia: 3 Teams
- Europe: 3 Teams
- Oceania: 1 Team
- Host: 1 Team
- 1 host team of the previous edition in the same age category
- WBSC: 1 Wild Card
The WBSC determined these quotas based on various factors, including regional participation rates, historical performances and the goal of fostering balanced international representation.
The host teams of the current and past editions must participate in the qualification process to be eligible for a quota spot. Should a continent fail to organize the continental qualifier on time, the related quota will revert to the WBSC for reassignment.
"The WBSC remains committed to promoting Baseball5 and believes the new quotas will help achieve that objective by broadening participation, interest, and visibility for our new discipline," stated WBSC Executive Director Michael Schmidt in a letter to the Member Federations.
The 16-team format will offer more opportunities to athletes globally to participate in the WBSC's premier Baseball5 tournaments with a minimal increase in costs for organisers. The number of roster spots available will increase from 96 to 128, and the size of the delegations will increase from 120 to 160 people. However, the overall number of competition days will reduce from six to five or four days. In addition to an increase in the number of players, 56 games will be played, as compared to 50 previously.
"This is just the next step for Baseball5," commented WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari, "and we are excited to see how it continues to grow globally in the coming years."
Earlier in October, the WBSC assigned hosting rights of the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup 2025 to Mexico and the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup 2026 to Italy.