World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC; french: Confédération internationale de baseball et softball) is the world governing body for the sports of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, and

Baseball5 Baseball5 (B5) is an internationally played safe haven game with many of the same rules as baseball and softball, which is governed alongside those sports by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The game revolves around two teams ...

. It was established in 2013 by the merger of the

International Baseball Federation The International Baseball Federation (IBAF; Spanish: ''Federación Internacional de Béisbol'', French: ''Fédération internationale de baseball'') is the former worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as ove ...

(IBAF) and

International Softball Federation Map of member states., 400px, right The International Softball Federation (ISF) is the international governing body for the sport of softball with its world headquarters and training centre at Plant City, Florida. The ISF is a non-profit corporat ...

(ISF), the former world governing bodies for baseball and softball, respectively. Under WBSC's organizational structure, IBAF and ISF now serve as the Baseball Division and Softball Division of WBSC. Each division is governed by an executive committee, while the WBSC is governed by an executive board. Headquartered in Pully, Switzerland, the WBSC was granted recognition as the sole competent global authority for both the sports of baseball and softball by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

at the 125th IOC Session on 8 September 2013. The WBSC has 208 National Federation Members in 141 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania.

Professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

organizations as well as youth organizations are also included and form an arm of the WBSC as associate members. As the recognised governing body of baseball, softball, and Baseball5, the WBSC is charged with overseeing all international competitions and holds the exclusive rights of all competitions, tournaments and world championships featuring National Teams. These rights extend to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. WBSC's members hold the rights to organize and select National Teams. This exclusive authority of the WBSC and its members in each constituent country to sanction and regulate the sport of baseball applies in the 141 territories in which the WBSC has an associated National Federation. Discussions to merge the two separate world governing bodies for the sports of baseball and softball were sparked by a Memorandum of Understanding that saw baseball and softball leaders agree to form a joint bid to be added to the 2020 Olympic Games sports program. Baseball and softball were dropped from the 2012 Summer Olympic program and were scheduled to be reinstated for the 2020 Olympics, but the 2020 Olympics were delayed due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

international pandemic. In August 2021, the

announced that softball would not be part of the

2024 Paris Olympics ) , nations = TBA , athletes = 10,500 ''(quota limit)'' , events = 329 in 32 sports (48 disciplines) , opening = 26 July 2024 , closing = 11 August 2024 , opened_by = , stadium = Stade de France Jardins du Trocadéro and River Seine , summe ...

is still set to feature in the

2026 Youth Olympics The 2026 Summer Youth Olympics (french: Jeux Olympiques de la jeunesse d'été de 2026), officially known as the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Dakar 2026 ( wo, Ndakaaru 2026), will be the fourth edition of the Summer Youth ...

History

Following its exclusion of baseball and softball from the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in 2005, the IOC reclassified baseball and softball as two disciplines of the same sport. As the IOC's guidance indicated the necessity for baseball and softball to be jointly considered for reinstatement in the Olympic programme, the two independent International Federations set out on a path toward a full and complete merger. In 2012, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the International Softball Federation (ISF) laid out the essential ground rules for partnership and began working on a constitution that would guide the merger and provide a framework for governance, ethics and operations. At a historic IBAF Congress in Tokyo in April 2013, the Constitution was ratified and since it had already been approved by an ISF working group empowered to do so, the WBSC was officially formalized and empowered. The creation of a single federation allowed for the permanent alignment, merger and management of baseball and softball at the world level. The merger resulted in an immediate boost to the governance, universality and gender equality of baseball and softball, criteria for an Olympic sport that are heavily valued by the IOC. At the first-ever World Baseball Softball Congress—in Hammamet, Tunisia—Italy's Fraccari was elected to a seven-year term as the first president of WBSC, along with a fully elected Executive Board.

Creation of Baseball5

In 2017, the WBSC introduced a third discipline to be played at an international level,

(B5), which is a five-on-five, five-

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

game designed to be played with only a rubber ball on a small field. It is targeted at underserved communities, as well as offering a low-cost and fast-paced entry point to baseball and softball in new places around the world. The WBSC introduced it to aid its ultimate goal of having a billion-strong baseball-softball community by 2030. A major difference between B5 and baseball/softball is that the game is played without a pitcher, with the

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

starting each play with the ball. It was inspired by various Latin American street games, such as "cuatro esquinas" (''four corners'') in Cuba, and has been played in some international tournaments in the Americas and Europe, as well as having been implemented in some schools in various countries. It is due to feature in the

2026 Youth Olympic Games The 2026 Summer Youth Olympics (french: Jeux Olympiques de la jeunesse d'été de 2026), officially known as the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Dakar 2026 ( wo, Ndakaaru 2026), will be the fourth edition of the Summer Youth ...

, and has two World Cups for youth and senior players alternating each year starting in 2022, with both of these international events being played in a mixed-gender format. The WBSC is also planning to, as part of its general push into E-Sports, introduce a video game version of Baseball5 in the near future.

Organizational structure

The WBSC is governed by the executive board, which consists of fourteen members: president, secretary general, two vice presidents, baseball executive vice president, softball executive vice president, treasurer, four members at large, athlete representative for baseball, athlete representative for softball, and global ambassador. The Baseball Division is governed by an executive committee, which has thirteen members: president, secretary general, 2nd vice president, 3rd vice president, treasurer, three members at large, four continental vice presidents (one each for Africa, Americas, Europe, and Oceania), and executive director. The Softball Division is governed by an executive committee that has twenty-three members: president, secretary general, 1st vice president, 2nd vice president, treasurer, twelve vice presidents (two each for Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania, and one each for North America and English-speaking Caribbean), two at-large members, two athlete representatives, immediate past president, and executive director. The WBSC has four departments: media, finance, tournaments, and marketing. It also has several commissions.

Members

Besides its worldwide institutions, there are five regional governing bodies that oversee the game in the different continents and regions of the world. * WBSC Africa (28 members) *

WBSC Americas The WBSC Americas, formerly known as Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE, Spanish: ''Confederación Panamericana de Béisbol'', Portuguese: ''Confederação Pan-Americana de Beisebol''), is the governing body of baseball and softball with ...

(58 members) * WBSC Asia (34 members) * WBSC Europe (54 members) *

WBSC Oceania The WBSC Oceania, formerly known as Baseball Confederation of Oceania (abbreviated as BCO), is the governing body of baseball and softball within Oceania, and is responsible for the Oceania Baseball Championship. The Baseball Confederation of O ...

(24 members) In total, WBSC recognizes 198 national associations, with 132 national baseball teams as well as 122 women's national teams. Unlike the ICC, the WBSC identifies associate members as those who particularly endorse international baseball and softball with their own leagues in partnership with the WBSC. These leagues support baseball and softball to the extent that they are major sports in their respective countries. The table below has all leagues along with the country hosted:

WBSC competitions

Baseball

;Men's * World Baseball Classic * WBSC Premier12 * Olympic baseball tournament * U-23 Baseball World Cup * U-18 Baseball World Cup *

U-15 Baseball World Cup The U-15 Baseball World Cup is the 15-and-under baseball world championship that features national teams as authorized ("sanctioned") by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). It began in 1989 as the World Youth Baseball Championship. I ...

U-12 Baseball World Cup The U-12 Baseball World Cup is the under-12 baseball world championship sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and its predecessor the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), and is the most elite and highest level of co ...

;Women's *

Women's Baseball World Cup The Women's Baseball World Cup is an international tournament in which national women's baseball teams from around the world compete. Through its 2012 edition, it was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation; following the 2013 merger ...

Softball

;Men's *

Men's Softball World Cup The Men's Softball World Cup, known through 2015 as the ISF Men's World Championship, is a softball tournament for the best national men's teams in the world. From 1966 to 2013 it was held every four years, first by the International Softball Fed ...

* U-23 Men's Softball World Cup *

U-18 Men's Softball World Cup The U-18 Men's Softball World Cup (in spanish: Campeonato Mundial juvenil de softball masculino) is a fastpitch softball tournament for age 19-and-under national teams held every four years by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, formerly th ...

;Women's *

Women's Softball World Cup The Women's Softball World Cup is a fastpitch softball tournament for women's national teams held historically every four years, now every two years, by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The tournament, originally known as the ''I ...

* Olympic softball tournament *

U-18 Women's Softball World Cup The U-18 Women's Softball World Cup is a fastpitch softball tournament for age 18-and-under national teams held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). Prior to the 2021 edition, the tournament was an under-19 tournament. Results ...

U-15 Women's Softball World Cup U15 or U-15 may refer to: * German submarine ''U-15'', one of several German submarines * U-15, a nickname for the Finnish curler Markku Uusipaavalniemi * ''U-15'', a subcategory used in Japanese junior idol products. * U15 (Berlin), a line on th ...

;Mixed *

U-12 Softball World Cup The U-12 Softball World Cup is an international softball tournament for male and female players between age 10-12, and is the most elite and highest level of competition in its age category. It is organized by ( WBSC). The tournament is held bien ...

Baseball5

* Baseball5 World Cup * Youth Baseball5 World Cup *

Summer Youth Olympics The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

Current title holders

WBSC World Rankings

Men's baseball

The following table has the Top 20 men's baseball countries in the world.

Men's softball

Women's softball

The following table has the Top 20 women's softball countries in the world.

References

External links

* {{International Sports Federations Baseball in Switzerland

Bas Bas may refer to: People * Bas (name), a given name and a surname * Bas (rapper) (born 1987) Chemistry * Boron arsenide (BAs), a chemical compound * Barium sulfide (BAs), a chemical compound Other uses * ''bas'' (French for "low"), as in bas- ...

International sports organizations Baseball Organisations based in Lausanne Softball in Switzerland Softball organizations Sports organizations established in 2013