The World Baseball Softball Confederation today announced the 12 participants and groups of the upcoming III WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup, which will run from 23 September to 2 October in the state of Sonora, Mexico. The Czech Republic and Germany have both been drawn in a group with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Taiwan, while the Netherlands will face off against Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama, South Korea, and Venezuela.
The global/continental representation will be as follows:
Americas (7): Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela
Asia (2): Chinese Taipei and Korea
Europe (3): Czech Republic, Germany and Netherlands
“For the first time in over two years, a Baseball World Cup is set to be staged,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “I commend all the respective National Federations/Teams for their strong desire to return to the field and compete for an official world title.
“And I would also like to thank the Director General of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (Comision Nacional de Cultura Fisica y Deporte-CONADE), Ana Guevara, and Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is also a WBSC Global Ambassador, in their continued support in safely and successfully hosting world class events that serve to both grow and showcase our global game.”
The teams will start the tournament with a group stage (round-robin):
Group A Obregon: Host Mexico, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Germany, and Taiwan
Group B Hermosillo: Colombia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, South Korea, and Venezuela
Ciudad Obregón will host Group A games and the 7th to 12th place round, while Sonora capital Hermosillo will host Group B and the Super Round.
The top three finishers from each group will advance to the Super Round, which will be played 29 September to 1 October. The finals are set for Saturday, 2 October.
Mexico is baseball’s defending U-23 World Champion, having won the last edition (2018) of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Previous U-23 Baseball World Cups have included the top young professional players from clubs affiliated to the Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Major League Baseball (MLB), Mexican Baseball League (LMB), Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), in addition to other leagues around the world.
Adapted from a press release by WBSC.