WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup starts in four days: Ankara set to welcome the world

Ankara, the capital city of Türkiye, is set to host 96 players from 12 different countries/territories that will battle it out for the first ever WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup starting on Tuesday.

The opening match on Tuesday at the Yenimahalle Spor Kompleksi between Cuba and China at 09:30 (local time) will launch the journey to find the first ever WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Champion.

Cuba, who was the winner of the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup in 2022 with a 2:0 win over baseball and softball superpower Japan, will start favourites for the tournament but world No. 1 Chinese Taipei will have a lot to say along the way.  

In total there will be 50 matches played over five days. The Opening Round is divided into two groups with Group A featuring China, Cuba, Malaysia, Tunisia, Türkiye and Zambia while Group B includes Australia, France, Ghana, Korea, Mexico and Chinese Taipei. The top three teams of each group will then advance to the Super Round before the top four teams are determined to playoff for the medals.

The Youth Baseball5 World Cup will be played over the best of three matches with each match consisting of five innings.

All games of the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup will be broadcast live on GameTime, the WBSC's online streaming service, as well as the WBSC's official YouTube channel (geo-blocking restrictions may apply).

In September, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) also released a new Official WBSC Baseball5 Rulebook, and the new Baseball5 Competition Management and Scoring System. Check the editions as per below:

• Official WBSC Baseball5 Rulebook: English Spanish
  • Overview of Changes English
• Baseball5 Competition Management and Scoring System: English Spanish