WBSC Europe Congress: WBSC briefs Europe on Baseball5, eSport and key integrity policies

WBSC Europe Congress: WBSC briefs Europe on Baseball5, eSport and key integrity policies
20/11/2021
Baseball5 -- WBSC’s new youth-focused, mixed-gender, urban discipline -- and eSport is fully in line with the Agenda 2020+5 of the IOC and the latest principles of the Olympic Movement.

WBSC Europe received a key briefing from a WBSC delegation on the latest initiatives and developments pertaining to the WBSC’s newest disciplines - Baseball5 and eSport - and an update on the WBSC’s Integrity Unit and its policies.

The workshop took place on day two of the three-day WBSC Europe Congress being held in Rome, Italy.

Launched in 2017, Baseball5 is proving to be very popular around the world, providing opportunities for people of all ages to easily access sport and experience the fundamentals of baseball and softball.

The urban, mixed gender, 5-a-side sport has already been a boost to baseball and softball development with the inclusion of Baseball5 in the Youth Olympic Games for the first time at Dakar 2026 in Senegal, Africa, a testament to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.

WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari, who participated in a Q & A session following presentations on Baseball5, eSport and the Integrity Unit, said: “It's an important and exciting time for the WBSC and international baseball and softball with many new projects on the horizon and a global events calendar re-establishing itself. Today was an important opportunity to brief the WBSC Europe members with the latest developments, especially for Baseball5 and eSport, two areas of major growth for the WBSC,” he said.

Key Baseball5 updates included the World Cup calendar, a toolkit for federations to grow the sport, Tokyo 2020 showcase and the Baseball5 education assets available in the WBSC Academy.

The WBSC’s entry into eSports has also been swift and wide-ranging, headlined by the WBSC’s successful participation in the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series earlier this year, with the WBSC’s eSport strategy looking to include mobile, virtual and online gaming.

WBSC Chief Operating Officer Marco Ienna presented members with the latest WBSC policies from the WBSC Integrity Unit, which handles all integrity-related matters in international Baseball and Softball, covering match fixing and the prevention of the competition manipulation, anti-doping, and safeguarding, ethics and compliance, governance, sustainable development.

Members were also reminded of two webinars on the prevention of competition manipulation, organised with the IOC, on November 25th for officials and administrators, with a the second one on November 30th focused on athletes. A further webinar on anti-doping will take place on 2 December.

The WBSC also presented the My.WBSC digital suite which offers a user friendly, cost effective option for providing key digital tools for members to help with the management of federations and their events and members as well to help increase the promotion of our sport both nationally and internationally.

WBSC Europe Congress news:
- New WBSC Europe Constitution approved in Rome, paving the way for the future of European Baseball and Softball
- Sports world congratulates WBSC Europe for new unity
- WBSC briefs Europe on Baseball5, eSport and key integrity policies