Press Release World Baseball Softball Confederation
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today unveiled the new official visual identity of the Women’s Baseball World Cup, the pinnacle platform and world championship of women’s baseball that is celebrated every two years.
WBSC also announced a global line-up of participating nations for the LG Presents WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup 2016 Gijang, Korea, scheduled this year from 3-11 September in Busan Metropolitan City, Gijang-gun County, where the new emblem and forthcoming official look will first be put on display.
The South Korea technology giant, LG Electronics, was recently named the official title sponsor of the VII WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup 2016.
New Official Logo and Look
The new WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup logo features a high-energy, iconic batter, with back-and-forth motion and force that captures both the anticipation and excitement of the swing.
Designed by British mega-event branding experts WORKS, the new logo is part of an ongoing suite and new unified look and system for all Baseball World Cup™ world championship properties (WBSC U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women’s). The newly launched identity of the Women’s Baseball World Cup follows the rollout of new logos/looks for the U-18 Baseball World Cup and global flagship Premier12™, which were unveiled in 2015.
The Official Look and tournament logo featuring LG and Gijiang 2016 will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
National Teams
The LG Presents WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup 2016 in Gijang, Korea will showcase a global footprint that includes a newly expanded tournament format, which has been increased from eight nations at the sixth edition in 2014 in Miyazaki, Japan, to twelve nations at Gijang 2016:
Americas (4): Canada, Cuba, United States and Venezuela
Asia (6): Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Japan, and host South Korea
Europe (1): Netherlands
Oceania (1): Australia
The Women’s National Baseball Team of Japan, “Madonna Japan”, are the four-time defending World Champions and current No. 1 in the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Rankings.
No. 2 United States will head to Gijang as the inaugural 2015 Pan-Am champions in women’s baseball.
No. 3 Australia, the “Emeralds”, claimed the bronze medal at the last WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup, defeating Canada in the third-fourth place final.
The Women’s National Baseball Team of Pakistan will be making their debut on the world stage in Gijang.
“This is an exciting time of sustained growth and emergence of our sport at the world level,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “We foresee widening attraction and audiences of National Team competitions within our sport, particularly if we become ‘Olympic’, and that’s why we are committed to unveiling a unified, impactful and highly recognisable brand across all our properties — distinguishing them from club competitions.”
The nation’s television giant, SBS, has acquired the exclusive rights to be the host broadcaster and showcase the games within the host nation.