Baseball and softball have become one of the most important and well-organized movements in the world of sports, declared WBSC President Mr. Fraccari. The newly re-elected president after his first term.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) congress, held on July 5th in Taipei City, re-elected Riccardo Fraccari (Italy) as the president of the global governing body for the 2022-2029 term. The outgoing president received 100 votes, while Didier Seminet (France) received 43. The voting delegates were 144, and the required majority was 73.
He is the president of some innovations: Baseball5, which is spreading worldwide, joint organizations with the IOC for the return of baseball and softball to the Tokyo Olympics…
« Thanks to the incredible work of all the actors in our sport, baseball and softball – and Baseball5 – are now played by approximately 65 million people across more than 140 countries and territories around the world. »
The WBSC Congress also confirmed Secretary General Beng Choo Low (Malaysia) and Treasurer Angelo Vicini (San Marino). Low received 121 votes, against 13 for Tommy Velazquez (Puerto Rico). Vicini obtained 101 votes, against 41 for Marc Morea (South Africa).
The WBSC Congress also elected Paul Seiler (USA) and Ron Finlay (Australia) as extraordinary members of Baseball and Taeko Utsugi (Japan) and Gabriel Waage (Czech Republic) as extraordinary members of Softball.
All positions of the WBSC Executive Board are elected for a term until 2025, except the President who is in office until 2029.
Let’s revisit the candidacy of our former French Federation President: Didier Seminet. He had resigned from his French Presidency when he was elected Secretary General of the French National Olympic Committee. In the wake of this, he did not run again as President of WBSC Europe, leaving the position to Karin Bruno of Croatia. François Collet, current Director General of the French Federation, joined the governance of WBSC Europe as a member of the baseball commission.
Didier Seminet could therefore aspire to unseat the President of the WBSC World. Social media at full throttle, various lobbying efforts, but the intricacies of elections at this level of global power in the world of baseball are extremely complicated.
Quoting Didier Séminet: I tried…
I would always prefer to fast with the eagles than peck with the sparrows…
Thank you to those who supported me for this election.
In 2025 and then in 2029, the cards could be reshuffled again as no French person is currently in the executive of the World Federation.
