South Africa, Zimbabwe and Benin to compete for one spot in WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026

South Africa will host the three-team tournament at the Cardinals Baseball Club field in Boksburg, Gauteng. The 12th team in the U-23 Baseball World Cup will be determined by a best-of-five series between Australia and Guam in November.

World No. 26 South Africa will host the WBSC Africa U-23 Baseball World Cup Qualifier from Thursday, October 30, to Sunday, November 2, at the Cardinals Baseball Club facility in Boksburg, Gauteng, a city located 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

South Africa will face No. 77 Zimbabwe and Benin, one of the most recent baseball programmes in Africa, in a round robin. The first- and second-place finishers will compete for the title and a spot in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026 on Sunday, November 2.

Nicaragua will host the VI WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup from November 6 to 15, 2026. The WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup is an evolution of the U-21 Baseball World Cup, hosted by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) in 2014 in Taichung.

The Local Organising Committee has proposed three venues to host the tournament: Soberanía National Stadium in Managua, the brand-new Roberto Clemente Stadium in Masaya, and Rigoberto López Pérez Stadium in León. The venues will be confirmed at a later stage. 

Ten teams have already qualified.

No. 16 Nicaragua has earned an automatic berth as the host nation. 

No. 17 Great Britain and 

No. 15 Czechia secured Europe’s two tickets by finishing first and second, respectively, at the European Championship held in Czechia this past August.

No. 1 Japan, 

No. 2 Chinese Taipei and No. 4 Korea qualified through the XXXI BFA Asian Championship in September.

No. 8 Panama, No. 7 Puerto Rico and No. 9 Cuba qualified through the North, Central America and Caribbean Qualifier in early October.

No. 5 Venezuela won the South America Qualifier which ended during the last weekend of October.

No. 11 Australia and No. 32 Guam will compete for the Oceania spot in a best-of-five series scheduled from November 6 to 9 at the Blacktown International Sportspark in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney. The winner will complete the 12-team field.