U-18 Baseball World Cup
The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United States. Because it is a world championship, the results of the U-18 Baseball World Cup affect the WBSC World Rankings.
| Current season, competition or edition: 2023 U-18 Baseball World Cup | |
| Formerly | World Junior Baseball Championship (1981 - 2010) 18U Baseball World Championship (2012) 18U Baseball World Cup (2013) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Founded | 1981 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Continent | International |
| Most recent champion(s) | Japan (1st title) (2023) |
| Most titles | Cuba (11 titles) |
| Official website | 2023 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup |
Several players who have participated in the U-18 Baseball World Cup have gone on to stardom at the professional level, including Japan's Yu Darvish, USA's Clayton Kershaw, Francisco Lindor and Buster Posey, and Cuba's Yasiel Puig and Aroldis Chapman, among many others.
Prior to 2010, the IBAF organized the World Junior Baseball Championship. The WBSC was created in 2013 when the IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation.