WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari: Baseball5 set to play "key role" in Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 success
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)'s popular urban sport Baseball5 will play a "key role" in the success of the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.
Speaking at the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, India following a presentation by the Organizing Committee of the fourth Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Dakar 2026, President Fraccari said: "After last week's very successful first edition of the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup in Türkiye, I'm looking forward to seeing our urban discipline play a key role at Dakar 2026 where I'm sure it will be a huge hit.
"The next WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup in 2025 will be a qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games and judging by the popularity of Baseball5 around the world, and especially in Africa, we expect it to be a massive hit with both fans and athletes."
The YOG Dakar 2026 will take place from 31 October to 13 November 2026, bringing together the world’s best young athletes. Baseball5 will debut on the programme.
The Games will be held across three host sites (Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly) and aim to serve as a catalyst to transform Senegal through sport while becoming a blueprint for future YOG hosts.
Senegal IOC member Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye is the president of the Local Organizing Committee and led the Dakar 2026 presentation to IOC Session 141
"I am confident that President Ndiaye and his Organising Committee team will continue their tireless efforts to ensure that all commitments made in Buenos Aires in 2018 are fulfilled and thus make the Dakar 2026 YOG a historic success for the entire Olympic family," said Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal, via a video message.
"We are a united team, with a common goal: to make sure the YOG in Dakar in 2026 are a huge success and they have a positive impact on young people, not just in Senegal, but around the world," said the Chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Dakar 2026, Kirsty Coventry, a former Olympic swimmer and new IOC Exectuvie Board member from Zimbabwe.
"Even three years before the Games," Coventry added, "the YOG is impacting thousands of young people in Senegal and building the legacy that the YOG will bring to the local communities."
One of the Dakar 2026 key initiatives is the second edition of Dakar en Jeux [Dakar in Games], scheduled from 31 October to 4 November. The event is designed to bring sports and the Olympic spirit to Senegalese communities in the lead-up to the YOG. Through various sports events and workshops, Dakar en Jeux will engage local youth, promote physical activity, and raise awareness about the values of the Olympic Movement.
The Kids’ Olympic Skills initiative will be launched in 2024 to help promote education and youth engagement through sport, with the nationwide project giving children aged from 6 to 18 the chance to try a range of different sports ahead of the YOG.
Cuba won the inaugural Youth Baseball5 World Cup, defeating France in the final played on Sunday in Ankara, Türkiye.
Mexico defeated the hosts in the bronze medal game.
Twelve National Teams, representing the five continents, participated in the historic event.
Ghana, Tunisia and Zambia represented Africa. Three African teams in a single international tournament demonstrate the potential the five-on-five version of baseball/softball has on the continent.
Baseball5 has kept developing in Africa since the WBSC presented its new discipline to the National Olympic Committees in September 2021.
Tanzania hosted the first-ever Baseball5 African Championship in May 2022 and Ghana hosted the inaugural Youth Baseball5 African Championship in May 2023.
