The Copa América () is the top international

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

tournament contested among national teams from the Americas. Organized under the auspices of

WBSC Americas 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 within ...

(previously COPABE) under various names since 1985, including as the Pan American Championship ( or ''Campeonato Panamericano''), it has historically served as the qualifier for major international tournaments like the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

and the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

. The Pan American Championship was suspended after the cancellation of the

Baseball World Cup The Baseball World Cup (BWC) was an international baseball tournament for national teams around the world, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). First held in 1938 as the Amateur World Series (AWS), it was, for most of its ...

in 2011, though the

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 reportedly planning on reviving the tournament under the Copa América name.

Names and history

The Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) was formed in 1984, during the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) congress in Cuba during the 1984 Amateur World Series. The first tournament, known as the Copa Simón Bolívar, was organized in 1985. Serving as a mid-tier international baseball event in the Americas organized by the IBAF (and since 2013, the

), the tournament now known as the Copa América has since held been held on an irregular basis. The 1998 Panamerican Championship served as a qualifier for the

1998 Baseball World Cup The 1998 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 33rd international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through th ...

as well as the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games () or the 13th Pan American Games and commonly known as Winnipeg 1999, were a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Ma ...

in Winnipeg, which themselves would serve as a qualifier for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The 2000 tournament served as a qualifier for the 2001 Baseball World Cup in Taiwan. In 2002, the tournament was rebranded as the "Serie de las Américas" and acted as a qualifier for the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games, officially the XIV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santo Domingo 2003, were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the Games was made in the mid-1990 ...

in Santo Domingo. The 2003 tournament was a direct qualifier for the Athens Summer Olympics held the following year; the 2003 tournament became notorious after the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team, also known as Team USA, represents the United States in international level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The United S ...

failed to qualify for the Olympics. COPABE first rebranded the tournament as the Copa América in 2007, based on a proposal by the Venezuelan Baseball Federation, with the hope that turning it into a more formal event would encourage the participation of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

players. The 2008 Copa América was held in Venezuela, with Puerto Rico taking the championship. However, despite talks of making the tournament a recurring event, it was not continued. Despite the abandonment of the "Copa América" idea, the IBAF scheduled a Panamerican qualifier tournaments in 2010, which acted as a qualifier for the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

and the 2011 Baseball World Cup. Another qualifier event for the Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics was scheduled for the six American teams that did not qualify directly for the Olympics at the 2019 WBSC Premier12, as well as the top two finishers at the Pan American Games that did not participate in the Premier12. The event, initially scheduled to be held in March 2020 in Arizona, was postponed to May 2021 due to 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 ...

2025 revival

In November 2024, ESPN reported that the WBSC had approved a plan to revive the Copa América tournament, scheduled to be played from the 13th to the 22nd of November 2025 with the 12 best-ranked national teams in the Americas by WBSC World Rankings. In May 2025, the WBSC confirmed the 12 teams will be Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Curaçao, Brazil in Group A, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the USA, Nicaragua and Canada in Group B. The two host will be Panama and Mexico.

Results

References

{{Authority control Baseball qualification for the Summer Olympics Pan American Games qualification Baseball World Cup International baseball competitions in North America International baseball competitions in South America

Names and history

2025 revival

Results

See also

References