WBSC Announce Dates and Venues for Under-23 Baseball World Cup

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has announced that the Under-23 Baseball World Cup in Monterrey this year will take place between October 28 and November 6.

The competition in Mexico will be the first since the WBSC expanded the format from being an under-21 event, in an attempt to raise the standard.

"We are excited to expand to this new under-23 Baseball World Cup format and position this World Championship behind our flagship events,” said Riccardo Fraccari, WBSC President.

“It will further raise the profile and reach of the WBSC four-year tournament cycle."

The Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey will be the highest capacity stadium at the World Cup, with the 27,000 seat venue due to take centre stage during the competition.

Matches are also scheduled to be held at the Parque Hundido UANL and Unidad Deportiva Alfonso Martinez Dominguez stadiums, which are undergoing renovations and upgrades to meet international standards.

The WSBC claim this will help to leave a legacy for the community and future generations of young baseball players.

The competition will be one of the largest distributors of world ranking points for the sport, behind only the WBSC Premier12 and the WBSC-sanctioned World Baseball Classic.

Mexico will host the top international competition of the year ©WBSC

Those top-tier events allocate the first and second amount of ranking points, respectively.

As the top international competition of the year, the under-23 World Cup will allocate a total of 690 world ranking points to the first-ever world champions at the age group.

The alternation of the event to an under-23 competition now sees World Cup events contested at the under 12, 15, 18 and 23 age groups, as well as women's tournament.