The U-12 Baseball World Cup is the under-12 baseball world championship sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and its predecessor the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), and is the most elite and highest level of competition in its age category. The U-12 Baseball World Championship is scheduled to be held every two years and launched in 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan as the "12U Baseball World Championship".
Unlike other youth international competitions like the Little League World Series, which involve local clubs, the U-12 Baseball World Cup is the only global event across baseball—and all of sport—to feature national teams in this age group (11 to 12 years-old).
The U-12 Baseball World Cup is played under the IBAF's International Rules. Dimensions of regulation U-12 Baseball World Cup ballparks (distance to the outfield fence, pitching mound, base paths, etc.) are significantly increased compared to local youth leagues, due to the superior nature and strength of the players involved.
Because the U-12 Baseball World Cup is considered a "world championship" event, the results of the tournaments affect the WBSC World Rankings.
The inaugural tournament took place in July 2011 and was won by its host Chinese Taipei. The tournament was slated to include 13 national teams and crowned the first ever world champion. Through this tournament, the WBSC looked to assume a leadership position for this age bracket in conjunction with major youth baseball organizations to further develop and promote baseball across the world. The tournament was hosted in Taipei City, one of the prominent tournament venues for international baseball competitions.
Results
Years Hosts Finalists Semi-finalists Teams Champions Score Runners-up 3rd place Score 4th place 1 Details Taipei 3 – 2 12 – 4 13 2 Details Taipei 8 – 1 8 – 2 14 3 Details Tainan 7 – 2 2 – 0 12 4 Details Tainan 7 – 2 1 – 0 12 5 Details Tainan 4 – 0 2 – 1 12 6 Details Tainan 10 – 2 9 – 5 11 7 Details Tainan 10 – 4 9 – 8 12 8 Details Tainan 7 – 1 2 – 0 12 9 2027 Tainan 10 2029
2 Originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, postponed to summer 2022.
Medal table
Participating nations
Nation 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 Total 10th 10th 10th 11th 9th 5 6th 8th 9th 9th 41st 2nd 2nd 2nd 1st 3rd 2nd 4th 82nd 4th 3rd 7 4 11th 8th 8th 9th 10th 10th 6 4th 6th 5th 3 10th 1 12th 1 11th 1 12th 9th 11th 3 11th 12th 2 12th 1 8th 9th 9th 10th 4 5th 3rd 6th 4th 2nd 7th 4th 2nd 8 13th 14th 7th 7th 3rd 5th 6th 7th 6th 8 12th 1 3rd 6th 2 14th 1 5th 7th 8th 8th 8th 5 9th 13th 2 11th 11th 11th 12th 4 10th 12th 2 7th 6th 8th 5th 4th 5th 5th 3rd 81st 1st 1st 7th1st 1st 1st 73rd 4th 5th 6th 2nd 3rd 6Nations1314121212111212
See also Baseball awards#World Little League World Series, an annual U12-baseball tournament held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania with some level of international participation (8 USA Divisions, 8 International Divisions). List of sporting events in Taiwan U-12 Softball World Cup
References