World Baseball Softball Confederation

World Baseball Softball Confederation
Abbreviation WBSC
Founded 14 April 2013
Type Federation of National Associations
Purpose World Governing Body
Headquarters Lausanne, Switzerland
Location
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
141 National Federations; 4 Pro Baseball "Associate Members"
Official language
English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean
President
 Riccardo Fraccari
Affiliations International Olympic Committee, ARISF, SportAccord
Website www.wbsc.org

World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for the sports of baseball and softball that was established in 2013 by the merger of the International Baseball Federation and International Softball Federation, the former respective world governing bodies for baseball and softball, both of which now serve as "Divisions" under the organizational structure of the WBSC.

Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, the WBSC was granted recognition as the sole competent global authority for both the sports of baseball and softball by the International Olympic Committee at the 125th IOC Session on September 8, 2013.

The WBSC has 208 National Federation Members in 141 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania. Professional baseball organizations are also included and form an arm of the WBSC as Associate Members.

As the recognised governing body in baseball/softball, the WBSC is charged with overseeing all international competitions and holds the exclusive rights of all competitions, tournaments and world championships featuring National Teams. These rights would be extended to the Olympic Games, if baseball and/or softball return on the Olympic Programme. WBSC's members hold the rights to organize and select National Teams. This exclusive authority of the WBSC and its Members in each constituent country to sanction and regulate the sport of baseball applies in the 141 territories in which the WBSC has an associated National Federation.

Discussions to merge baseball and softball world governing bodies were sparked by a Memorandum of Understanding that saw baseball and softball leaders agree to form a joint bid to be added to the 2020 Olympics Games sports program.[1][2]

History

Following its exclusion of baseball and softball from the Summer Olympics in 2005,[3] the IOC reclassified baseball and softball as two disciplines of the same sport.[4] As the IOC's guidance indicated the necessity for baseball and softball to be jointly considered for reinstatement in the Olympic programme, the two independent International Federations set out on a path toward a full and complete merger.

In 2012, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the International Softball Federation (ISF) laid out the essential ground rules for partnership and began working on a constitution that would guide the merger and provide a framework for governance, ethics and operations. At a historic IBAF Congress in Tokyo in April 2013, the Constitution was ratified and since it had already been approved by an ISF working group empowered to do so, the WBSC was officially formalized and empowered.

The creation of a single federation allowed for the permanent alignment, merger and management of baseball and softball at the world level.[5] The merger resulted in an immediate boost to the governance, universality and gender equality of baseball and softball, criteria for an Olympic sport that are heavily valued by the IOC.

The first ever World Baseball Softball Congress in Hammamet, Tunisia saw the election of Italy's Fraccari to a seven-year term as the first president of WBSC, along with a fully elected Executive Committee.[6]

Associate Members

Continental Confederation Members

Africa

Americas


Asia

Europe

Oceania

International Tournaments

WBSC baseball tournaments

WBSC softball tournaments

References

  1. ↑ "Baseball, softball agree on name". ESPN Olympics (ESPN). 17 December 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  2. ↑ Linden, Julian (8 September 2013). "Baseball-softball vow to fight on after Olympic rejection". Reuters. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Michaelis, Vicki (July 8, 2015). "Baseball, softball bumped from Olympics". USA Today. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Kolatch, Jonathan (September 3, 2013). "Baseball and softball belong in the Olympics". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "WORLD BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION SETS OUT OLYMPIC VISION". British Baseball Federation. April 3, 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Fraccari elected baseball-softball president". AP. Associated Press. May 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-15.

External links

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