(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
  Premier12 expands to sixteen teams in 2027
Nederlands
 PULLY (Switzerland) -
The number of countries participating in the fourth edition of the WBSC Premier12 will expand from twelve to sixteen, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announced on Thursday (October 24).
The third edition of the global event opens on November 9 in Mexico.
A few days later, another preliminary round will be staged in Taiwan.
The Final Round will be played in Japan.
Besides expanding the main tournament with four teams, two qualification tournaments (four teams each) will also be added and will be played in the preceeding year.
That means that eight additional countries will compete for four spots in the main event, which is the flagship tournament of the WBSC.
The expansion of teams and change of format was approved by the WBSC Executive Board and is a result of the success of the first two editions in 2015 and 2019.
In the previous two editions, as well as the upcoming tournament in November, the field of participants is based on the WBSC-ranking on December 31 of the preceeding year.
The top-12 of the world ranking will be invited for the Premier12.
In the new format for the fourth edition in 2027, the twelve highest ranked countries per December 31, 2025 will automatically qualify.
The countries in 13th through 18th position will advance to the two Premier12 Qualifiers, which will be played in 2026.
In case, a host country of a Qualifier (or both) are not in the top-20, Wild Cards will be issued.
When these countries are in the top-20, all teams ranked 13 to 20 will advance to the Qualifiers.
As mentioned, the two Qualification Tournaments will be played in 2026.
Each tournament will last three days and will have four participating teams.
The two best teams will qualify for the Premier12 in 2027.
In the new set-up, there will be an Opening Round with four Groups of four teams each, who will play a three-day tournament.
The two best teams advance to the Second Round, which has two Groups of four teams.
The two best teams of these Groups will continue in the Super Round in which the finalists will be decided.
In the upcoming third edition, the top-12 on the WBSC-ranking per December 31 last year will participate.
In order of ranking, these countries are Japan (1), Mexico (2), USA (3), South Korea (4), Chinese Taipei (5), Venezuela (6), Netherlands (7), Cuba (8), Dominican Republic (9), Panama (10), Australia (11) and Puerto Rico (12).
Ranked 13th through 20th per December 31 last year were Colombia (13), Italy (14), Czechia (15), Canada (16), Germany (17), Great Britain (18), Israel (19) and Nicaragua (20).
Would the new format already be in place for the upcoming third edition, the top-12 per December 31, 2022 would have qualified automatically.
That would have included Colombia instead of Puerto Rico, which was in 13th place back then.
The countries that would have advanced to the Qualifiers would have been the same as listed last year in place 13th through 20th, except for Great Britain.
Spain would have qualified instead.
In a press release, it was stated that WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari hailed the expansion as an historic moment for the WBSC and proof of the continued growth of baseball.
Fraccari said the following in the announcement:
,,From 2027, an increased number of countries will participate in the WBSC Premier12, which will offer more opportunities globally and expand the Premier12 brand moving forward.
Following on from the success of the first two editions, there was a positive response to the proposed changes among all our marketing partners and major stakeholders, and we are confident that fans will love seeing more teams involved.
Ahead of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028, the fourth edition promises to build on what we are sure will be a successful tournament next month, culminating in a brilliant final in Tokyo.''
(October 24)
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