Overview
From 1938 to 2011, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), then the governing body of baseball, considered the Baseball World Cup to be the sport's major world championship. [1] Following the 2011 version of the event, the IBAF chose to discontinue the tournament in favor of the World Baseball Classic. [2]
In 2005 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that baseball and softball would be removed from the Summer Olympics beginning in 2012. [3] Thereafter, the IOC also officially reclassified baseball and softball as two different disciplines of the same sport. [4] In 2013, the IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation to create the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). [5]
In July 2014, the WBSC announced the creation of the Premier12 tournament, calling it the "new flagship men’s National Team baseball event," which would be held every four years. [6] [7] It was viewed as an event to fill in the calendar in place of the Baseball World Cup, since the World Baseball Classic took its place and an attempt to boost baseball's bid for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. [8] [9] The WBSC proposed that, if baseball did return to the Olympics for 2020, the 2019 WBSC Premier12 be used as a qualifying tournament. [10]
On 11 September 2023, the WBSC officially announced the third staging of the tournament for 2024, to be hosted in Japan, Taiwan and a venue in the Americas, [11] later chosen to be Mexico. [12] In October 2024, the WBSC announced that the tournament will expand to 16 teams beginning in 2027. [13]
Status and Popularity
With the World Baseball Classic acting as the biggest international baseball competition, the Premier12 is often viewed as the second or third most important tournament of the sport, behind the WBC, and, sometimes, the Summer Olympics. [14]
In terms of viewership and popularity, the tournament tends to struggle especially in North and Central American countries. This is because of the fact that a large portion of their talent pool is not permitted to play in the Premier12. As of 2024, all players active on a Major League Baseball roster are ineligible to participate in the Premier12. [15]
However, the tournament still garners massive attention and media spotlight in countries in East Asia with active domestic baseball leagues, such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, reflected by their large TV viewership. [16]
When the Chinese Taipei national baseball team won the tournament in 2024, massive street parades were held to celebrate the team’s victory, with the sitting president Lai Ching-te greeting the participants. [17]
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2024 WBSC Premier12 
Chinese Taipei (1st title)
Japan (1 title)
South Korea (1 title)
