WBSC, KBO to make major announcements on 2015 Premier12™ global baseball showcase
<p>LAUSANNE, Switzerland — WBSC and KBO — South Korea’s top sports league — will make a series of exciting announcements on Wednesday, 20 May in Seoul, South Korea regarding the inaugural 2015 WBSC Premier12™ (Pro National Team Baseball Championship) that will be staged from 8-21 November in Taiwan and Japan.</p>
<p>Leading the announcements will be the world body president, WBSC’s Riccardo FRACCARI, and Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League Secretary General YANG Hae-young.</p>
<p><strong>-New flagship location in Japan to be revealed</strong></p>
<p>A new Premier12 location in Japan that has been added to the line-up of world-class flagship venues — which includes the iconic 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome — will be announced.</p>
<p><strong>-Groups and two Opening match-ups to be announced</strong></p>
<p>The “Premier12” countries — the 12 top-ranked nations in the world — will be divided into two groups and learn who their opponents will be for the First Round of action.</p>
<p>The two opening match-ups that will kick off the tournament — Game 1 on November 8 in Japan and Game 2 on November 9 in Taiwan — will be unveiled.</p>
<p><strong>-KBO role in the Premier12</strong></p>
<p>Announcements will also be made on the role of KBO in the Premier12 and showcasing the new elite-level National Team international baseball tournament, particularly as additional events are being weighed for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.</p>
<p><strong>-World No. 8 South Korea path to Premier12</strong></p>
<p>Leadership of KBO, a WBSC Member, will outline the South Korean National Team’s road to the global event that will unite baseball’s 12 highest-ranked nations this November.</p>
<p><strong>-New video teaser</strong></p>
<p>The first-ever showing of a new Premier12 teaser video will also be presented.</p>
<p><strong>-Follow via Social Media </strong>(10:00a Korea Standard Time, UTC/GMT +9 hours)</p>
<p>Fans worldwide can visit <a href="https://twitter.com/WBSC" target="_blank">twitter.com/wbsc</a> and/or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldBaseballSoftball" target="_blank">facebook.com/WorldBaseballSoftball</a> for updates and real-time coverage of the press conference from Seoul – Official hashtag <strong>#Premier12</strong>.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p><strong>About WBSC Premier12</strong>™<strong> </strong></p>
<p>Set to launch in November 2015, the WBSC Premier12 will unite the Men’s National Teams from the 12 highest-ranked nations (the “Premier12”) in the Official WBSC Baseball World Rankings every four years.</p>
<p>Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) — the second highest-attended sports league in the world in 2014 (at approx. 23 million) and world-class organisers Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) — both WBSC Members – will co-host the inaugural Premier12.</p>
<p>British firm <em>The Works Ltd</em>., which has been responsible for the official looks of leading world sport properties, such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ and UEFA Champions League Finals™, has been appointed by WBSC to design and roll out the Official Look and Feel of the inaugural 2015 Premier12.</p>
<p>The twelve nations qualified for the 2015 Premier12 are: World No. 1 Japan, No. 2 USA, No. 3 Cuba, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 5 Netherlands, No. 6 Dominican Republic, No. 7 Canada, No. 8 South Korea, No. 9 Puerto Rico, No. 10 Venezuela, No. 11 Italy and No. 12 Mexico.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>About Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)</strong></p>
<p>The KBO professional baseball league was founded in 1982 with six clubs. Expansion-years include 1991 to eight clubs, 2013 to nine clubs and 2015 to a record 10 clubs. Based on the league’s current expansion and rise in popularity, the KBO League is projected to attract more than 8 million fans in 2015, the most in its history.</p>
<p>KBO oversees the administration of the KBO Regular season, All-star Game, and Post-season games, as well as the collection, research and analysis of league records, statistical database and related archives. KBO is committed to the promotion of international baseball events and actively supports the development of youth baseball. KBO has been an Associate Member of WBSC since 2013.</p>
<p>For more information, visit <a href="https://www.koreabaseball.com/Default.aspx">https://koreabaseball.com/</a>.</p>
<p><em>Copyright © 2014 – 2015 WBSC. All rights reserved.</em></p>