Eight teams to compete for two WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2026 spots at XII U-15 Asian Championship

The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) will host the BFA XII U-15 Asian Baseball Championship from August 17 to 23 in Tainan. The tournament will qualify the champions and the runner-ups for the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2026.

Eight teams will split into two groups and compete in the Opening Round. The first two finishers of each group will advance to the Super Round on August 21 and 22.

World No. 4 Korea, No. 35 Pakistan, No. 31 Thailand and No. 2 Chinese Taipei will play in Group A.

Group B includes No. 27 Hong Kong-China, No. 1 Japan, No. 24 Philippines and No. 48 Sri Lanka.

The first and second-place teams at the end of the Super Round will play for the title on August 23 and advance to the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2026.

Japan is the defending U-15 World Champion. They defeated Puerto Rico in the Final to win the title in 2024 in Colombia.

Hirokazu Ibata, Samurai Japan manager and the defending U-15 World Champion skipper, will lead the U-15 Japanese National Team at the Asian Championship 2025.

"Of course, we want to win," Ibata addressed the local media. "But if they're going to fall, I want them to fall forward, not backward. I want them to hit every ball they can, and come back with something to gain."

No. 17 Germany and No. 15 Czechia became the first teams to qualify at the end of the U-15 European Championship in July.

The Americas will qualify five teams, Africa and Oceania one with the 12th participant a Wild Card awarded by the WBSC.