Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
The South African national baseball team is the baseball team which represents the Republic of South Africa in international baseball competitions such as the World Baseball Classic and the Summer Olympics. The governing body of the team is the South African Baseball Union.
The Venezuela national baseball team is the national team of Venezuela. It is currently ranked sixth in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, behind the Mexico and ahead of the Netherlands. The team will compete against Israel, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in March 2023 in Miami, Florida.
The Dominican Republic national baseball team is the national baseball team of the Dominican Republic. The team has won the Baseball World Cup in 1948 and World Baseball Classic in 2013. They are the first team to have won both world competitions. They are currently ranked the 9th-best in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. At the Olympics in 2021 it faced Israel, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and the United States.
The Puerto Rico national baseball team, also known as Team Rubio is the national baseball team of Puerto Rico. The men's senior team is currently ranked 13th in the world. Puerto Rico is the incumbent Pan American and Central American/Caribbean champion, as well as the World Baseball Classic runner-up. The team will compete against Israel, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Nicaragua in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in March 2023 in Miami, Florida.
The Cuba national baseball team represents Cuba at regional and international levels. The team is made up from the most professional players from the Cuban national baseball system. Cuba has been described as a baseball powerhouse and currently ranks 8th in WBSC's world rankings. It has medalled in five of the six Olympics in which baseball was played. Cuba played in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. The team tried but failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics at the eight-team Americas Qualifying Event on May 31 through June 5, 2021.
The Italy national baseball team represents Italy in international baseball competitions. The Italian national team was ranked 16th in the world as of 2022. The team is managed by Mike Piazza, a former New York Mets player and Major League Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.
Jair Francoise Jurrjens is a Dutch-Curaçaoan professional baseball pitcher for the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, and Colorado Rockies, and in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. He pitched for Team Netherlands in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of 34 km2 (13 sq mi), it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the northern 56% of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint Martin. Sint Maarten's capital is Philipsburg. Collectively, Sint Maarten and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean.
The Chinese Taipei baseball team is the national men's baseball team of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is governed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. The team is ranked second in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, behind only Japan. The team is usually made up of professionals from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League, Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball from the United States.
Eight teams qualified for the Olympic baseball tournament. The host nation qualifies automatically. Additionally, two teams qualified from the American qualifying tournament, and one team qualified from both the European and Asian qualifying tournaments. The field was be rounded out by the top three teams from the world Olympic qualifying tournament. The qualifications were held in Taichung, Barcelona, and Havana.
The French National Baseball team represents the French Federation of Baseball and Softball in international competitions, such as the World Baseball Classic, the European Baseball Championship, and the World Cup of Baseball. They are currently ranked 25th in the world.
The 2007 European Baseball Championship was an international baseball tournament held from September 7 to 16, between national baseball teams of the Confederation of European Baseball. The tournament was held in Barcelona, Spain and served as the qualifying competition for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The Netherlands won the tournament for the 5th consecutive time and qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Great Britain and Spain advanced to a final qualifying tournament in Taiwan. Prior to the tournament, Greece was removed by the European Baseball Confederation and replaced with Austria. Czech Republic was downgraded to the last place at the end of the tournament and its wins in the preliminary round vacated. This was the first time that 5 teams instead of 2 were relegated to the B-Pool.
The 2009 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 38th international men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the 1986 AWS. The 2009 tournament was held, for the first time, across a continent — with games played in 27 cities across eight European countries, from September 9 to 27. The final was a repeat of the previous BWC final, with the United States again defeating Cuba, winning its fourth title.
The Israel National Baseball Team represents Israel in international competitions. It is managed by Ian Kinsler.
2014 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Yurendell Eithel DeCaster is a Dutch professional baseball third baseman. He played part of one season in Major League Baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played for Team Netherlands in the 2019 European Baseball Championship, and at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament, in Italy in September 2019.
The qualification for the 2007 European Baseball Championship was held from July 25–29, 2006 in Russia and August 1–5, 2006 in Belgium. 16 nations contested to qualify for 2 spots available among the 10 other sides already qualified. In the end, 3 teams qualified for the 2007 competition, because of the removal of Greece. Austria replaced Greece, being the runners-up in the qualifier pool in Russia, while Croatia and Russia won their qualifier pools and were qualified to compete in the 2007 competition, to be placed with the 9 already qualified teams from the 2005 competition. These were Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and United Kingdom.
The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to March 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009.
The Women’s European Baseball Championship (WEBC) is the main championship tournament between national women’s baseball teams in Europe, governed by the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB).