The Taipei Dome is to host the opening and second rounds of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 in November next year, organizers announced on Monday as they unveiled a new 16-team format for the tournament.
At a news conference in Taipei announcing the hosting rights, organizers said Group A of the opening round would be played from Nov. 8 to 12, followed by the second round from Nov. 13 to 15. The four-team Super Round will be held in Japan.
The announcement provided more details after the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) said on Friday that Taiwan had secured hosting rights for part of the tournament.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan secured its place in the Premier12 by finishing second in the WBSC men’s baseball world rankings at the end of last year and would play in Group A at home.
WBSC executive director Michael Schmidt said the tournament is expanding from 12 to 16 teams for the first time, with four groups of four competing in round-robin opening-round play at four locations.
The top two teams from each opening-round group would advance, with the qualifiers from groups A and B forming one second-round group and those from groups C and D forming the other.
Each team would face only the two opponents they did not play in the opening round, with the top two teams from each second-round group advancing to the Super Round.
The other three teams in Group A and the hosts of Groups B, C and D will be announced later.
The field includes the top 12 teams in last year’s year-end rankings and four teams advancing from two qualifiers, Schmidt said.
The 12 automatic qualifiers are Japan, Taiwan, the US, South Korea, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Netherlands, Cuba, Australia and the Dominican Republic.
Spain, Colombia, Italy and Germany are contesting the qualifier in Barcelona from Oct. 9 to 11, while China, Czechia, Great Britain and Nicaragua are playing in Zhongshan, China, from Nov. 26 to 28. The top two teams from each qualifier will advance to the Premier12.
CTBA president Jeffrey Koo Jr said securing hosting rights would not only showcase Taiwan to the world and improve Taiwan’s chances of winning.
“With the fans behind us, our chances of winning the championship are very good,” Koo said.
He talked about Taiwan’s triumph at the 2024 Premier12, where they punched out Japan 4-0 in the final at Tokyo Dome to claim their first title at a major senior-level international baseball tournament.
Next year’s Premier12 will be the tournament’s fourth edition. Taiwan has hosted games in every edition since the inaugural tournament in 2015.
The CTBA on Friday announced that Taiwan had secured hosting rights for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Baseball Final Qualifier, which is scheduled for March 2028 and features six teams competing for the final Olympic berth.
Organizers did not announce a specific competition format, date or venue for the qualifier on Monday.
The US, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela secured Olympic berths through this year’s World Baseball Classic. Next year’s Premier12 would award one berth each to the highest-finishing eligible teams from Asia and Europe/Oceania.
Taiwan can qualify directly by finishing ahead of the other eligible Asian teams at the Premier12. If they fail to do so, they would have another opportunity by winning the final qualifier.
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