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WBSC Premier12

{{Short description|World baseball tournament}}

{{about|for the championship organized by WBSC|the World Championship|World Baseball Classic}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}

{{Infobox sports league

| sport = Baseball

| title = WBSC Premier12

| logo = WBSC Premier12.svg

| pixels = 250px

| founded = November 2015

| founder = World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)

| teams = 12

| continent = International

| champions = {{bb|TPE}} (1st title)

| most_champs = {{bb|TPE}} (1 title)
{{bb|JPN}} (1 title)
{{bb|KOR}} (1 title)

| current_season=2024 WBSC Premier12}}

{{World Baseball Championship sidebar}}

The WBSC Premier12 is the international baseball tournament organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), featuring the 12 highest-ranked national baseball teams in the world. The first tournament was held by Taiwan and Japan in November 2015. The second tournament, 2019 WBSC Premier12, was held in November 2019, and served as a qualifier for two teams for baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Overview

From 1938 to 2011, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), then the governing body of baseball, considered the Baseball World Cup to be the sport's major world championship.{{cite web | url=http://ibaf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Files_-_world_rankings/4221-IBAF_World_Rankings_Notes.pdf | title=IBAF World Ranking Notes | date=13 January 2009 | access-date=23 June 2009 | publisher=International Baseball Federation | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509034100/http://ibaf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Files_-_world_rankings/4221-IBAF_World_Rankings_Notes.pdf | archive-date=9 May 2019 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }} Following the 2011 version of the event, the IBAF chose to discontinue the tournament in favor of the World Baseball Classic.{{cite news | url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/06/04/409304/Taipei-likely.htm | title=Taipei likely to host 2015 inaugural Premier 12 tournament: IBAF head | newspaper=The China Post | date=4 June 2014 | access-date=6 November 2015}}

In 2005 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that baseball and softball would be removed from the Summer Olympics beginning in 2012.{{cite news|last1=Michaelis|first1=Vicki|title=Baseball, softball bumped from Olympics|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2005-07-08-baseball-softball-dropped_x.htm|access-date=6 November 2015|work=USA Today|date=8 July 2015}} Thereafter, the IOC also officially reclassified baseball and softball as two different disciplines of the same sport.{{cite news|last1=Kolatch|first1=Jonathan|title=Baseball and softball belong in the Olympics|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-kolatch-softball-olympics-ioc-20130903-story.html|access-date=6 November 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=3 September 2013}} In 2013, the IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation to create the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).{{cite web|title=WORLD BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION SETS OUT OLYMPIC VISION|url=http://www.britishbaseball.org/news_article/show/244069?referrer_id=271910|publisher=British Baseball Federation|date=3 April 2013|access-date=6 November 2015}}

In July 2014, the WBSC announced the creation of the Premier12 tournament, calling it the "new flagship men’s National Team baseball event," which would be held every four years.{{Cite web |date=July 3, 2014 |title=‘Premier12’ Elite Baseball World Championship to be Launched in 2015 |url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/premier12-elite-baseball-world-championship-to-be-launched-in-2015 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=World Baseball Softball Confederation}}{{cite news|title=Canada qualifies for Premier 12|url=http://www.baseball.ca/canada-qualifies-for-premiere-12|access-date=6 November 2015|publisher=Baseball Canada|date=27 November 2014}} It was viewed as an event to fill in the calendar in place of the Baseball World Cup, since the World Baseball Classic took its place and an attempt to boost baseball's bid for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.{{cite news|last1=Morosi|first1=Jon Paul|title=Baseball, softball might still have pulse for Olympic status|url=http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/baseball-softball-hopeful-of-reinstatement-to-olympics-012314|access-date=6 November 2015|work=Fox Sports|date=23 January 2014}}{{cite news|title=New baseball tournament for top 12 national teams announced|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=12193422|access-date=6 November 2015|work=ESPN.com|agency=Associated Press|publisher=ESPN|date=19 January 2015}} The WBSC proposed that, if baseball did return to the Olympics for 2020, the 2019 WBSC Premier12 be used as a qualifying tournament.{{cite news|title=Baseball qualifying for 2020 Tokyo Games would be tricky|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2015/10/09/baseball-qualifying-for-2020-tokyo-games-would-be-tricky/73658038/|access-date=6 November 2015|work=USA Today|agency=Associated Press|date=9 October 2015}}

On 11 September 2023, the WBSC officially announced the third staging of the tournament for 2024, to be hosted in Japan, Taiwan and a venue in the Americas,{{cite web|url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/iii-wbsc-premier12-presented-by-raxus-to-be-staged-from-10-to-24-november-2024-finals-at-tokyo-dome|title=III WBSC Premier12 presented by RAXUS to be staged from 10 to 24 November 2024, Finals at Tokyo Dome

|publisher=WBSC|access-date=14 September 2023|date=11 September 2023}} later chosen to be Mexico.{{Cite web |title=Guadalajara, Tepic chosen host cities for Premier12 Group A in Mexico |url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2024-premier12/news/guadalajara-tepic-chosen-host-cities-for-premier12-group-a-in-mexico |access-date=2024-10-30 |website=World Baseball Softball Confederation |language=en}} In October 2024, the WBSC announced that the tournament will expand to 16 teams beginning in 2027.{{Cite web |date=October 24, 2024 |title=Premier12 to expand to 16 teams in 2027 highlighting success of WBSC’s flagship event |url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/wbsc-to-increase-participants-in-premier12-and-baseball5-world-cups |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=World Baseball Softball Confederation |language=en}}

Status and Popularity

With the World Baseball Classic acting as the biggest international baseball competition, the Premier12 is often viewed as the second or third most important tournament of the sport, behind the WBC, and, sometimes, the Summer Olympics.{{Cite web |title=All you need to know about the Premier12 tournament |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/2024-premier12-preview-and-guide |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=MLB.com |language=en}}

In terms of viewership and popularity, the tournament tends to struggle especially in North and Central American countries. This is because of the fact that a large portion of their talent pool is not permitted to play in the Premier12. As of 2024, all players active on a Major League Baseball roster are ineligible to participate in the Premier12.{{Cite web |last=Clair |first=Michael |date=November 8, 2024 |title=All you need to know about the Premier12 tournament |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/2024-premier12-preview-and-guide#:~:text=Will%20MLB%20players%20be%20in,plenty%20of%20prospects,%20including%20No. |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=MLB.com}}

However, the tournament still garners massive attention and media spotlight in countries in East Asia with active domestic baseball leagues, such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, reflected by their large TV viewership.{{Cite web |last=뉴스 |first=SBS |date=2019-11-18 |title='프리미어12' 결승전, 한국시리즈보다 2배 높은 시청률…최고 21.5% |url=https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1005526907#:~:text=%EC%B5%9C%EA%B3%A0%252021.5%2525,-%EC%9E%85%EB%A0%A5%25202019.11.18&text='%ED%94%84%EB%A6%AC%EB%AF%B8%EC%96%B412'%2520%EA%B2%B0%EC%8A%B9%EC%A0%84%EC%9D%B4%25202019,%EB%86%92%EC%9D%80%2520%EC%8B%9C%EC%B2%AD%EB%A5%A0%EC%9D%84%2520%EA%B8%B0%EB%A1%9D%ED%96%88%EB%8B%A4. |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=SBS NEWS |language=ko}}

When the Chinese Taipei national baseball team won the tournament in 2024, massive street parades were held to celebrate the team’s victory, with the sitting RoC president Lai Ching-te greeting the participants. {{Cite web |date=2024-11-26 |title=Taiwan holds ticker-tape parade for Premier12 champions - Focus Taiwan |url=https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202411265001 |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=Focus Taiwan - CNA English News |language=en-US}}

Participants

{{See also|WBSC World Rankings}}

The field of the tournament consists of the 12 best national teams in the world according to the most recent WBSC World Rankings.

Across three stagings of the tournament a total of 14 teams have qualified for at least one edition, with 10 of those teams having qualified for all three events. Of all the qualified teams, the majority have been from the Americas and Asia and none have qualified from Africa. At least one team from Europe has qualified for every tournament and Oceania has had one team (Australia) qualify for the last two tournaments.

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" style="text-align:center"
rowspan="2" style="width:250px"|Team

!colspan="3"|Appearances

width=40|Total

!width=40|First

!width=40|Latest

style="text-align:left"|{{bb|TPE}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|CUB}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|DOM}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|JPN}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|MEX}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|NED}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|PUR}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|KOR}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|USA}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|VEN}}

| 3

20152024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|AUS}}

| 2

20192024
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|CAN}}

| 2

20152019
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|ITA}}

| 1

20152015
style="text-align:left"|{{bb|PAN}}

| 1

20242024

Results

class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align: center;" width="75%"
rowspan="2" style="width:5%;"|Year

!rowspan="2" style="width:7.5%;"|Hosts

|rowspan="6" style="width:1%; border-top:none; border-bottom:none;"|

!colspan="3"|Final

|rowspan="6" style="width:1%; border-top:none; border-bottom:none;"|

!colspan="3"|Third place game

style="width:10%; background:Gold;"|Champions

!width=8%|Score

!style="width:10%; background:Silver;"|Runners-up

!style="width:10%; background:#c96;"|Third place

!width=8%|Score

!style="width:10%; background:#9acdff;"|Fourth place

2015
Details

|align="left"|{{flag|Japan}}
{{flag|Taiwan}}

|{{bb-big|KOR}}

|8–0
{{small|Tokyo Dome, Tokyo}}

|{{bb-big|USA}}

|{{bb-big|JPN}}

|11–1
(F/7)
{{small|Tokyo Dome, Tokyo}}

|{{bb-big|MEX}}

2019
Details

|align="left"|{{flag|Japan}}
{{flag|Mexico}}
{{flag|South Korea}}
{{flag|Taiwan}}

|{{bb-big|JPN}}

|5–3
{{small|Tokyo Dome, Tokyo}}

|{{bb-big|KOR}}

|{{bb-big|MEX}}

|3–2
(F/10)
{{small|Tokyo Dome, Tokyo}}

|{{bb-big|USA}}

2024
Details

|align="left"|{{flag|Japan}}
{{flag|Mexico}}
{{flag|Taiwan}}

|{{bb-big|TPE}}

|4–0
{{small|Tokyo Dome, Tokyo}}

|{{bb-big|JPN}}

|{{bb-big|USA}}

|6–1
{{small|Tokyo Dome, Tokyo}}

|{{bb-big|VEN}}

2027
Details

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

=Performance of nations=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%;"

!scope="col"|Team

!scope="col"|2015
(12)

!scope="col"|2019
(12)

!scope="col"|2024
(12)

!scope="col"|Total

align=center

| align=left| {{bb|AUS}}

| •

QF
{{small|6th}}		R1
{{small|7th}}		2
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|CAN}}

| QF
{{small|5th}}

R1
{{small|7th}}		•2
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|TPE}}

| R1
{{small|9th}}

QF
{{small|5th}}		bgcolor="gold" | 1st3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|CUB}}

| QF
{{small|6th}}

R1
{{small|10th}}		R1
{{small|11th}}		3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|DOM}}

| R1
{{small|11th}}

R1
{{small|8th}}		R1
{{small|9th}}		3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|ITA}}

| R1
{{small|12th}}

••1
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|JPN}}

|bgcolor="#cc9966" | 3rd

bgcolor="gold" | 1stbgcolor="silver" | 2nd3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|MEX}}

| bgcolor="#9acdff"| 4th

bgcolor="#cc9966"| 3rdR1
{{small|8th}}		3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|NED}}

| R1
{{small|7th}}

R1
{{small|11th}}		R1
{{small|10th}}		3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|PAN}}

| •

•R1
{{small|6th}}		1
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|PUR}}

| QF
{{small|8th}}

R1
{{small|12th}}		R1
{{small|12th}}		3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|KOR}}

|bgcolor=gold| 1st

bgcolor="silver" | 2ndR1
{{small|5th}}		3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|USA}}

|bgcolor="silver"| 2nd

bgcolor="#9acdff" | 4thbgcolor="#cc9966"| 3rd3
align="center"

| align="left" | {{bb|VEN}}

| R1
{{small|10th}}

R1
{{small|9th}}		bgcolor="#9acdff" | 4th3
style="background:#cccccc;" align=center

!scope="col"|Team

!scope="col"|2015
(12)

!scope="col"|2019
(12)

!scope="col"|2024
(12)

!scope="col"|Total

;Legend

  • {{bg|gold|1st}} – Champions
  • {{bg|silver|2nd}} – Runners-up
  • {{bg|#cc9966|3rd}} – Third place
  • {{bg|#9acdff|4th}} – Fourth place
  • Q – Qualified
  • {{border|width=1px|color=gray| • }} – Did not qualify
  • {{border|width=1px|color=gray| × }} – Did not enter
  • R1 – Round 1 (2015–present: pool stage)
  • QF – Quarterfinals (2015–present: playoff stage (2019–present:super round stage))

Medal table

{{Medals table

| caption =

| host =

| flag_template = bb

| event =

| team =

| gold_KOR = 1 | silver_KOR = 1 | bronze_KOR = 0

| gold_JPN = 1 | silver_JPN = 1 | bronze_JPN = 1

| gold_TPE = 1 | silver_TPE = 0 | bronze_TPE = 0

| gold_USA = 0 | silver_USA = 1 | bronze_USA = 1

| gold_MEX = 0 | silver_MEX = 0 | bronze_MEX = 1

}}

Theme music

  • Heroic Charge (Bryce Jacobs){{cite web |url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/wbsc-unveils-tv-opening-for-premier12 |title=WBSC unveils TV opening for Premier12 |author= |date=October 29, 2019 |website=World Baseball Softball Confederation - wbsc.org |publisher= |access-date=August 29, 2024 |quote=}}{{cite news |author=Bell |first=Alex |date=October 29, 2019 |title=WBSC unveils TV opening for Premier12 global baseball event |url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1086442/wbsc-unveils-tv-opening-premier12 |accessdate=January 1, 2022 |work=Inside the Games}}

See also

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.ibaf.org/en/news/2011/12/03/the-congress-approved-a-new-format-of-internationa/cd3e0ea8-a62d-4c01-85f5-4c2aafba5119 IBAF Congress approves new Format of International Tournaments] Official IBAF Website
  • [http://www.ibaf.org/en/news/2014/07/03/premier12-elite-baseball-world-championship-to-be-/f4bcfd60-dd94-4387-a907-94c79456dd79 ‘Premier12’ Elite Baseball World Championship to be Launched in 2015] Official IBAF Website
  • [http://www.beisbolencuba.com/series/mundial-beisbol-premier-wbsc-2015 Mundial de Béisbol Premier 12] Resultado de los juegos y estadísticas.

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Premier 12

Category:Quadrennial sporting events

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 2015

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