USA, Chinese Taipei and Japan to launch World Collegiate Baseball Championship

USA Baseball, Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA), and the Japan University Baseball Federation (JUBF) announced the joint creation of the World Collegiate Baseball Championship. The first edition will take place July 11-15, 2026, at Taichung City Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung City, (TPE).

World No. 4 Korea, who received a Wild Card, will join world No. 1 Japan, No. 2 Chinese Taipei, and No. 3 USA to compete in the first edition.

Group play (July 11 to 13) will determine the standings and the semifinals schedule (first-place finishers against fourth-place team and second-place finishers versus third-place team on July 14), and the winners of the semifinals will compete for the title on July 15.

As the founding federations, USA Baseball, Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, and Japan University Baseball Federation will compete in the event each year, the fourth team will be a wild card participant selected by the host country. The host country and the wild card participant will rotate annually. This year's host country, Chinese Taipei, has invited Korea, represented by the Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA), as the wild card team.

As part of the rotation of this event between the three federations, USA is set to host in 2027 at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, and Japan will host in 2028. The founding Federations will announce the dates for the 2027 and 2028 events, as well as the Wild Cards, at a later time.

"We are excited to be the first host of this newly created event, which promises to be a very high-level and competitive tournament," said Richard Lin, Secretary General of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. "The main goal for this new event is to provide a stage for the best collegiate players to compete internationally and showcase their talent, thus gaining invaluable experience which will be beneficial to their baseball careers."

"This is an incredible opportunity for our Collegiate National Team to return to the international tournament stage by competing at the inaugural World Collegiate Baseball Championship," said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball's Executive Director/CEO. "Our goal working with the other international federations to create this event was to provide the highest level of competition for our respective teams while striving for a gold medal, which is what this tournament will do. We anticipate this being a marquee event on the international baseball schedule for years to come, and we look forward to not only representing the United States this year in Taiwan, but also hosting the event at the National Training Complex in 2027."

"We are truly excited for this opportunity and believe this tournament will become an invaluable stage for our college baseball players, serving as an important stepping stone for their future careers. Gaining experience in such a high-level international competition is of great significance," said Masayuki Naito, Japan University Baseball Federation Secretary General. "We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the United States for its outstanding leadership to make it happen, and Taiwan for being the first host for this tournament."

The four participants in the first World Collegiate Baseball Championship are the only medal winners in the World University Baseball Championship. The International University Sport Federation (Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire, FISU) inaugurated the World University Baseball Championship in 2002 in Messina, Italy. The International Baseball Federation (IBAF; it merged with the International Softball Federation, ISF, to create the WBSC in 2014) sanctioned the event through the 2010 edition.

The most victorious team is USA with three wins (2004, 2006 and 2008), followed by Cuba (2002 and 2010) and Japan (2018). USA also won two silver medals (2002 and 2010) while Japan has won two silver medals (2004 and 2008) and two bronze medals (2002 and 2010). Chinese Taipei won silver in 2006 and 2018 and bronze in 2008. Korea won bronze in 2018.

USA has a long history of playing head-to-head friendship series at the collegiate level against Chinese Taipei and Japan over the past five decades. The USA vs Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series began in 1972 and has been played 45 times, while the USA vs Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series was introduced in 1987 and has been played 21 times. Many notable players from the three federations have gone on to play professionally, including Alex Bregman (USA Baseball), Lin, An-Ko (CTBA), Kyle Schwarber (U.S.), Sung, Chia-Hao (CTBA), Morishita Shota (JUBF) and Sugano Tomoyuki (JUBF). Bregman, Schwarber, and Tomoyuki currently play in Major League Baseball (MLB), while Lin, Sung, and Shota compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Bregman, Ko, Schwarber, Sugano, and Shota all played for their respective countries at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Additionally, the three founding federations have competed against each other countless times at the youth level in World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup events dating back to 1987. With these deep roots already established amongst the countries at the international stage, this tournament now provides an opportunity for collegiate level athletes to compete at a high level annually in a tournament setting.