# Copa América (baseball)

The Copa América (English: Americas Cup) is the top international baseball tournament contested among national teams from the Americas. Organized under the auspices of WBSC Americas (previously COPABE) under various names since 1985, including as the Pan American Championship (Spanish: Premundial Panamericano or Campeonato Panamericano), it has historically served as the qualifier for major international tournaments like the Olympics and the Pan American Games. The Pan American Championship was suspended after the cancellation of the Baseball World Cup in 2011, though the World Baseball Softball Confederation is reportedly planning on reviving the tournament under the Copa América name.

## Names and history

The Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) was formed in 1984, during the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) congress in Cuba during the 1984 Amateur World Series. The first tournament, known as the Copa Simón Bolívar, was organized in 1985. Serving as a mid-tier international baseball event in the Americas organized by the IBAF (and since 2013, the World Baseball Softball Confederation), the tournament now known as the Copa América has since held been held on an irregular basis.
The 1998 Panamerican Championship served as a qualifier for the 1998 Baseball World Cup as well as the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, which themselves would serve as a qualifier for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The 2000 tournament served as a qualifier for the 2001 Baseball World Cup in Taiwan.
In 2002, the tournament was rebranded as the "Serie de las Américas" and acted as a qualifier for the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo. The 2003 tournament was a direct qualifier for the Athens Summer Olympics held the following year; the 2003 tournament became notorious after the United States national baseball team failed to qualify for the Olympics.
COPABE first rebranded the tournament as the Copa América in 2007, based on a proposal by the Venezuelan Baseball Federation, with the hope that turning it into a more formal event would encourage the participation of Major League Baseball players. The 2008 Copa América was held in Venezuela, with Puerto Rico taking the championship. However, despite talks of making the tournament a recurring event, it was not continued.
Despite the abandonment of the "Copa América" idea, the IBAF scheduled a Panamerican qualifier tournaments in 2010, which acted as a qualifier for the 2011 Pan American Games and the 2011 Baseball World Cup. Another qualifier event for the Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics was scheduled for the six American teams that did not qualify directly for the Olympics at the 2019 WBSC Premier12, as well as the top two finishers at the Pan American Games that did not participate in the Premier12. The event, initially scheduled to be held in March 2020 in Arizona, was postponed to May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

### 2025 revival

In November 2024, ESPN reported that the WBSC had approved a plan to revive the Copa América tournament, scheduled to be played in November 2025 with the 12 best-ranked national teams in the Americas by WBSC World Rankings. According to a source, the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are all being considered to host the tournament. The WBSC officially announced the tournament in January 2025.

## Results

| Year | Host | Champions | Runners-up | 3rd place |
| 1985 Details [es] | Caracas | Cuba | Puerto Rico | Venezuela |
| 1998 Details [es] | Managua | Panama | United States | Nicaragua |
| 2000 Details [es] | Panama City | Panama | Nicaragua | Dominican Republic |
| 2002 Details | Saltillo and Monterrey | Cuba | United States | Dominican Republic |
| 2003 Details | Panama City and Aguadulce | Cuba | Canada | Mexico |
| 2004 Details | Cartagena and Barranquilla | Cuba | Colombia | Panama |
| 2006 Details | Havana | United States | Cuba | Mexico |
| 2008 Details | Puerto Ordaz and El Tigre | Puerto Rico | Nicaragua | Mexico |
| 2010 Details | San Juan | Dominican Republic | Cuba | United States Venezuela |
| 2021 Details | Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach | United States | Dominican Republic | Venezuela |