WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup: Ivory Coast targets Africa qualifier with new Baseball5 programme and Youth Championship

The Ivory Coast is the latest nation to embrace the exciting WBSC urban discipline Baseball5 with the launch of a programme for school girls and boys, aiming to develop Baseball5 ahead of Ivory Coast's first ever Baseball5 youth championship with the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup Africa Qualifier this year, to be held from 14-23 May 2023 in Ghana, as a long term goal.

The Baseball5 development programme at the Olympafrica Center of Soubre was created as part of a memorandum of understanding that the WBSC and Olympafrica signed in October 2021,

Twice a week, 15 coaches and more than 200 kids from 10-12 and 13-15 years old participate in trainning sessions aiming to introduce the kids to the basics of Baseball5. The training period will run for three months until end of March, with a youth Baseball5 tournament closing the project in May.

On 25 October, the WBSC partnered with the Olympafrica Foundation and the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) to promote baseball and softball in Africa.

In April 2022, the WBSC held a workshop at the OlympAfrica centre in Somone, Senegal, with the participation of six directors of the OlympAfrica centres including Soubre in Ivory Coast. They received training from Baseball5 certified instructors Daniel Atemo, Andrea D'Auria and Chedli Mokrani.

Now the Olympafrica Centre of Soubre, Ivory Coast, is implementing the acquired knowledge in this project, that could lead to a national team participation in the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup Africa Qualifier in Ghana.

The WBSC has yet to award hosting rights for the Youth Baseball5 World Cup, a mixed-gender event for the 15-18 age bracket. The tournament's second edition in 2025 will serve as a qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal 2026.