• All five global continents within Top 15
• Two nations – Botswana and Israel – make their World Rankings debut

LAUSANNE (Switzerland) — The World Baseball Softball Confederation today revealed the updated 2016 standings in the Official WBSC Men’s Softball World Rankings, following a reformatting of the rankings methodology to weigh additional events.

Four continents (Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania) are represented within the Top 10, while all five global continents are within the Top 15.

New Zealand remains ranked No. 1 in the world, following their silver medal performance at the 2015 Men’s Softball World Championship in Saskatoon, Canada, which boosts the nation’s total ranking points to 3,545.

Winning the gold medal at this year’s U-19 Men’s Softball World Championship allowed Japan to move up in the rankings to the No. 2 world rank with 2,960.

Argentina follows closely behind by just 35 points to No. 3, increasing three spots.

Canada drops two positions to No. 4 in the world, with 2,900 points, despite their historic World Championship victory at the WBSC flagship Men’s Softball World Championship.

Australia, slipped two positions to No. 5, following a 4th place finish in Saskatoon.

The U-19 Men’s World Championship hosts, USA, have moved into the No. 6 position, an increase of one spot with 2,120 total points.

Venezuela drops three positions to No. 7 with 1,820 points.

Europe’s top-ranked nation, Czech Republic, is ranked No. 8 in the world with 1,690.

Mexico improves to No. 9 with 1,485 points, following their eighth place finish at the U-19 world championship.

Great Britain rounds out the Top 10 with 920 points.

The top-ranked nation in Africa is No. 14 South Africa with 555 points.

Two nations – Botswana and Israel — are also making their first debut in the Softball World Rankings, following their participating at this year’s U-19 Men’s Softball World Championship.

NEW METHODOLOGY

The WBSC Softball World Rankings reflect a 4-year cycle with points generated from recent competitions including the WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship (max 1,150 points), and U-19 Men’s Softball World Championship (max 920 points).

The qualifiers for the softball world championships, multi-sport and continental games and championships, and all WBSC sanctioned events involving Softball National Teams will now be granted world points beginning in 2017.

The web-based version and methodology of the WBSC Softball World Rankings can be found at www.wbsc.org/rankings.