Tainan: The 2025 U-12 Baseball World Cup tournament is scheduled to commence in Tainan on July 25, featuring a game between Taiwan and Cuba in the opening round, as announced by the Tainan City government on Wednesday. Taiwan and Cuba are set to compete in the third Group A game on the opening day at the Asia Pacific International Baseball Training Centers in Tainan.

According to Focus Taiwan, Group A also includes teams from Japan, Mexico, Australia, and Germany in this 12-team tournament, which is organized biennially by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The defending champion, the United States, will compete in Group B alongside South Korea, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Czechia, and South Africa.

The tournament will follow a round-robin format during the opening round, where each team will face off against the other five teams in their group. The top three teams from each group will proceed to the super round, slated to begin on July 31. In this round, teams will carry over their records against teams from the same group and compete against teams from the opposite group.

The competition will culminate with the top two teams vying for the world title and the third and fourth place teams battling for the bronze medal on August 3, as outlined by the WBSC. In the previous tournament in 2023, Taiwan secured a silver medal, marking their fourth in the seven editions of the U-12 World Cup, which was inaugurated in Taipei in 2011 and has consistently been held in Taiwan.

Taiwan has claimed the title in 2011 and 2019 and earned a bronze medal in the 2021 edition, which was held in 2022 due to COVID-19. Aside from Taiwan, only Japan, South Korea, and Mexico have participated in all seven editions of the U-12 World Cup. Although the U.S. did not participate in the inaugural edition, it has captured five of the six subsequent titles.