Nicaragua confirmed as hosts of WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026

The World Baseball Softball Confederation Executive Board has awarded the hosting rights for the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026 to the Nicaraguan Baseball and Softball Association, the newly combined national federation for baseball and softball in Nicaragua.

The Nicaraguan Baseball and Softball Association's bid proposal to host the seventh edition of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup included three stadiums - Soberanía National Stadium in Managua (15,000 capacity), the new Roberto Clemente Stadium in Masaya (4,000 capacity) and Rigoberto Lopez Perez Stadium in León (6,300 capacity).

Japan won the previous edition - the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024 - which was organized in Shaoxing, China. Puerto Rico finished in second place ahead of Nicaragua, who beat China in the bronze medal game to claim their first medal in the age group.

The WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup has been held every two years since 2016 and will be played in the Americas for the fourth time after Mexico in 2016 and 2020, as well as Colombia in 2018. The age category for this Baseball World Cup was transformed from U-21 to U-23 for the 2016 edition.

Baseball has a long history in Nicaragua. The first contact came in the 1880s before the first professional baseball league was created in the 1950s. The new Nicaragua Professional Baseball League was founded in 2004 and has been established among the pro leagues in the Americas since.

While it's the first time Nicaragua will host the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup, they have hosted the WBSC Baseball World Cup five times in 1948, 1950, 1972, 1973 and 1994.

Having participated in 44 WBSC Baseball World Cups, Nicaragua has a best finish of second (five times in the WBSC Baseball World Cup 1939, 1940, 1973, 1974 and 1990) and more recently finished in third place at the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup and fourth place at the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup – both played in 2024. In the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup, Nicaragua has finished third (2024), fourth (2014), fifth (2016) and seventh (2021).

The Nicaraguan Baseball National Team is currently No. 16 in the WBSC Men’s Baseball World Ranking. This year they qualified for the World Baseball Classic for the second time.