World Baseball Softball Confederation

Until 2013, baseball and softball were considered two separate sports, each overseen by a dedicated international governing body. Baseball was governed by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). The men’s sport had appeared eight times at the Olympic Games between 1900-1988, always as demonstration competitions, and its début with full-Olympic status came at Barcelona 1992. Softball premiered at the Olympics four years later, at Atlanta 1996, as a women’s-only event, governed by the International Softball Federation (ISF). Both sports would then appear continuously at the Olympic Games until Beijing 2008.

When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) classified baseball and softball as disciplines within one sport, the IBAF merged with the ISF to become the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) on 14 April 2013, in Tokyo, Japan. The first Women’s Softball World Championship organized under the wing of the WBSC then took place the following year, in Haarlem, Netherlands, and the first World Baseball Classic for men baseball players under the auspices of the new confederation would later be staged in 2017.

Now governed by the WBSC, baseball and softball returned to the Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020, as optional sports for those Games. In August 2022, the Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee shortlisted nine proposed sports for consideration as optional events for those Olympics, with one of those sports being baseball/softball. At the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, India, the IOC approved both disciplines as optional events for the 2028 Olympics, along with four other sports.

Besides baseball and softball, the WBSC also governs the discipline of Baseball5 since 2017. This new urban version of baseball/softball played five-on-five would have its first mixed-gender Baseball5 World Cup staged in 2022, in Ciudad de México. The federation also oversees an eSports division, and the inaugural edition of the WBSC Virtual Cup would also be held in 2022, but in Seoul, South Korea.

A member of the Association of the IOC-recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF), as of January 2026, the WBSC has 207 Members: 192 National Federations (185 Full Members and seven Provisional Members) and 15 Associated Members in 142 countries and territories. The organization is headquartered in Pully, Switzerland (adjacent to Lausanne, the Olympic Capital), and its current president is Italy’s Riccardo Fraccari.