Official Logo for Premier 12™ to be unveiled in Tokyo on Monday

by International Baseball Federation, www.ibaf.org

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The first-ever look into the new international baseball flagship event — the WBSC Premier 12™ — brand identity will be presented to the media, along with other Premier 12 special announcements on Monday, 19 January in Tokyo at 16:00 JST – Japan Standard Time. (Follow WBSC on Facebook and Twitter for real-time updates; official hashtag #Premier12.)

The Official WBSC Premier 12 logo will be unveiled through a high-impact video animation. The United Kingdom-based group (The Works Ltd), which has been responsible for the official looks of leading world sport properties, such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ and UEFA Champions League Finals™, has been appointed by WBSC to deliver a truly global look and feel, and an electrifying atmosphere for the 2015 Premier 12, including all Fanzones.

WBSC’s new flagship professional baseball world championship will feature the Men’s National Teams from the Top 12-ranked nations (the “Premier 12”) in the world and will award US$ millions in prize money, in addition to distributing the highest amount of world ranking points of any international baseball event.

The 12 qualified nations for the inaugural Preimer 12 in 2015 were announced in November 2014 and form an elite and global group (by World Rank): No. 1 Japan, No. 2 USA, No. 3 Cuba, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 5 Netherlands, No. 6 Dominican Republic, No. 7 Canada, No. 8 South Korea, No. 9 Puerto Rico, No. 10 Venezuela, No. 11 Italy and No. 12. Mexico.

The 2015 Premier 12 is set to represent a global spread that includes the entire western hemisphere — North, Central- and South America, and the Caribbean — Asia, and Northern and Southern Europe.  Oceania’s No. 14 Australia, which had been ranked as high as No. 10 in 2012, missed the cut by just 8.97 rankings points.

While only announced to the world in July 2014, the Premier 12 has already surpassed important milestones, particularly with The Works partnering to roll out the brand identity of the new world event and London-based media rights power brokers MP & Silva quickly striking a deal with WBSC to secure the exclusive worldwide distribution and sponsorship rights of the 2015 and 2019 editions of Premier 12..