De Wills Baseball Club of Bayelsa State have emerged champions of the 2026 Super Five Baseball Championship after defeating defending champions Delta State in the final held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The championship was the climax of the national league season, which featured about 17 clubs competing in a series of competitions in Kwara, Rivers and other centres before the top five teams were invited to Abuja to compete for the national title.
President of the Nigeria Baseball and Softball Federation (NBSF) and President of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) Africa, Uche Odozor, said the Super Five Championship brings together the best teams from the national league.
“This is a Super Five Baseball Championship where the top five teams qualifies after the year’s league, where you had about 17 teams competing, so the top five are invited to compete for the top honours here at the Moshood Abiola Baseball Park, Abuja,” Odozor said.
Odozor recalled that baseball was introduced to Nigeria in 1960 during the Peace Corps era, around the same period it was introduced in Japan, but said the promoters left the country during the Nigerian Civil War in 1967.
He said the sport was later reintroduced in the 1990s by former players, adding that the federation was working with the National Sports Commission to expand baseball to different parts of the country.
According to him, Nigeria’s large youth population provides an opportunity for the development of baseball, while the federation had brought analysts from Japan to assess home-grown talents during the championship.
