The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United States. Because it is a world championship, the results of the U-18 Baseball World Cup affect the WBSC World Rankings.[1]
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 U-18 Baseball World Cup | |
 | |
| Formerly | World Junior Baseball Championship (1981 - 2010) 18U Baseball World Championship (2012) 18U Baseball World Cup (2013) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Founded | 1981 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Continent | International |
| Most recent champion(s) |  Japan (1st title) (2023) |
| Most titles |  Cuba (11 titles) |
| Official website | 2023 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup |
Several players who have participated in the U-18 Baseball World Cup have gone on to stardom at the professional level, including Japan's Yu Darvish, USA's Clayton Kershaw, Francisco Lindor and Buster Posey, and Cuba's Yasiel Puig and Aroldis Chapman, among many others.
Prior to 2010, the IBAF organized the World Junior Baseball Championship. The WBSC was created in 2013 when the IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation.
Results
edit
| 18U Baseball World Championship | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Final Host | Medalists | ||||
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | ||||
| 2012 Details |
 Seoul |
 United States |
 Canada |
 Chinese Taipei | ||
| 18U Baseball World Cup | ||||||
| 2013 Details |
 Taichung |
United States |
 Japan |
 Cuba | ||
| U-18 Baseball World Cup | ||||||
| 2015 Details |
Osaka |
United States |
Japan |
 South Korea | ||
| 2017 Details |
 Thunder Bay |
United States |
South Korea |
Japan | ||
| 2019 Details |
Gijang |
Chinese Taipei |
United States |
South Korea | ||
| 2022 Details[R 1] |
 Sarasota & Bradenton, FL |
United States |
Chinese Taipei |
Japan | ||
| 2023 Details |
Taipei, Taichung |
Japan |
Chinese Taipei |
South Korea | ||
| 2025 Details |
TBD | |||||
- Notes
- ^ Originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, postponed to September 2022.
Medal table
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuba | 11 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
| 2 |  United States | 10 | 12 | 5 | 27 |
| 3 | South Korea | 5 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| 4 |  Chinese Taipei | 3 | 10 | 7 | 20 |
| 5 | Japan | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | Canada | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 7 |  Australia | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Totals (7 entries) | 31 | 31 | 31 | 93 | |
1Chinese Taipei is the official WBSC designation for the team representing the state officially referred to as the Republic of China, more commonly known as Taiwan. (See also political status of Taiwan for details.)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "IBAF World Ranking Notes" (PDF). IBAF. January 13, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 9, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
- ^ "Editions". WBSC. World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). Retrieved April 30, 2022.