Historic milestones are being passed for baseball and softball on the African continent, with the first-ever African Baseball5 Championship approaching and the groups today revealed for the unprecedented 10-nation tournament.
This is first-ever African continental championship tournament in recent history for either baseball or softball on the African continent, WBSC officials report. The launch of the urban, five-on-five discipline of Baseball5, which will be featured at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, has been a boost to baseball and softball development, particularly in Africa and Europe.
Group Draw
A draw conducted by Saber Jlajla, the president of the African Baseball Softball Association (ABSA), split the 10 participants of the inaugural African Baseball5 Championship into two groups.
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tunisia, Ghana and Uganda will compete in Group A.
Egypt, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Zambia, and Kenya will be part of Group B.
Format
Round-robin play will qualify four teams from each group into the elimination phase: quarterfinals, semifinals, and the African Championship/Final game.
Each matchup will consist of a best-of-three series.
The African Baseball5 Championship is scheduled from 23 to 26 May in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. It will qualify the top two finishers into the inaugural WBSC Baseball5 World Cup, due to take place later this year.
Twelve teams will participate in the first Baseball5 World Cup.
France and Lithuania qualified through the European championship 2020.
Teams from the Americas (3), Asia (3) and Oceania (1) are still to be determined.
