WBSC/KONAMI Baseball5 World Ranking: Cuba returns to No. 1 after Baseball5 World Cup victory, record 51 programmes included
Cuba has taken the top spot in the WBSC/KONAMI Baseball5 World Ranking, moving up from No. 2 to No. 1, after an impressive victory at the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup 2024 in Hong Kong, China last week.
The defence of their 2022 title brought them 1,380 points, taking them to 1,920 for the year and 4,327 overall (over a four-year period), helping them pass Chinese Taipei, who dropped from first to second in the rankings. It's the first time since the WBSC/KONAMI Baseball5 World Ranking was launched on 12.01.2023 that Cuba has held the number 1 spot.
Chinese Taipei’s fifth-place finish at the World Cup saw them collect 797 points to sit on 4,113 points - 689 points of third placed Japan who moved up from fifth spot after their silver medal performance in Hong Kong.
Japan, on 3,424 points, equalled their record high of third place - last reached on 22.08.2023 - while France, the bronze medallists in Hong Kong, managed to maintain their position at No. 4 with 3,404 points.
Tunisia, previously ranked third, slipped slightly to No. 5 after a seventh-place finish in Hong Kong, while Mexico moved up two spots to a record high of No. 6, courtesy of their solid sixth-place finish at the World Cup.
The biggest movers in the latest ranking update was Australia (from 39th to a record high 32nd) and Venezuela (from 12th to 7th) after their 12th and fourth-place finish at the World Cup respectively.
World Cup hosts Hong Kong, China equalled their previous highest ranking, moving up from 17th to 14th while Benin registered a new best ranking, moving up one spot from 42nd to 41st.
The growth of Baseball5 around the world continues with the introduction of two new programmes - Lesotho and Botswana - who appeared for the first time in the ranking at 47th and 50th place respectively.