05/07/2022 1 Minute Read

Riccardo Fraccari re-elected president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation

"Baseball and softball have grown into one of the biggest and best organized movements in the sports world," WBSC President Fraccari said.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Congress in Taipei City today re-elected Riccardo Fraccari (Italy) as the president of the world governing body for the 2022-2029 term. The incumbent received 100 votes, while Didier Seminet (France) received 43. The voting delegates were 144, and the majority required was 73.

"Baseball and softball have grown into one of the biggest and best organized movements in the sports world," said WBSC President Fraccari. "Not many other sports can claim to have such a big movement -- from youth to pro -- including urban sports with Baseball5, eSports and our new Virtual Cup.

"Thanks to the incredible work of everybody in our sport, baseball and softball – and Baseball5 -- are now played by approximately 65 million people across more than 140 countries and territories around the world."

The WBSC Congress also confirmed Secretary-General Beng Choo Low (Malaysia) and Treasurer Angelo Vicini (San Marino). Low received 121 votes, while Tommy Velazquez (Puerto Rico) received 13. Vicini got 101 votes as opposed to Marc Morea (South Africa), who received 41.

The WBSC Congress also elected Paul Seiler (USA) and Ron Finlay (Australia) as Baseball Members at Large and Taeko Utsugi (Japan) and Gabriel Waage (Czech Republic) as Softball Members at Large.

All the WBSC Executive Board positions are elected to one term until 2025.