Best result 3rd (1 time, in 2009) Appearances 2 (First in 1973) Location Venezuela | Appearances 3 (First in 2006) Appearances 18 (First in 1940) Manager Omar Vizquel | |
Best result 1st (3 times, most recent in 1945) Confederation Pan American Baseball Confederation |
The Venezuela national baseball team is the national team of Venezuela. They are currently ranked six in the world by the International Baseball Federation.
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World Baseball Classic
In June 2005, Major League Baseball announced the formation of the World Baseball Classic, a sixteen nation international competition to be held in March 2006 for the first time. The team Venezuela sent to the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic included Venezuelan players from Major League Baseball. A player is eligible to participate on a WBC national team if:
2009: Venezuela wins bronze
Venezuela competed in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, playing its opening games in Pool C, in Toronto. The Venezuelans secured advancement out of Pool C with a pair of resounding wins over Italy. Along the way, Venezuela also lost a 15–6 slugfest against the United States, but won twice against the same team.
2013: First round exit
In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Venezuela was eliminated by Puerto Rico, who went on to eliminate Italy, the United States and two-time defending champion Japan. Their placing as the third team in Pool C after defeating newcomers Spain was sufficient to secure direct qualification to the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
2009 IBAF World Cup
In 2009, Europe will host the IBAF World Cup. It will mark the first time in history the Baseball World Cup will not be hosted by a certain country, but rather a whole continent. The 2009 Baseball World Cup will take place from 9–27 September. Seven European countries will host and participant in the tournament of 22 teams. The event will be made up of five groups consisting of four teams each, for a total of 20 teams. Italy (Bollate, Bologna, Codogno, Florence, Macerata, Milano, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, San Marino, Torino, Trieste, Verona & Vicenza) and Netherlands (Rotterdam, Haarlem & Amsterdam) serve as hosts of the sixteen teams of the second round ( 14–20 September), and therefore receive first round byes. The groups are as follows:
2006=7th