The Venezuela national baseball team ( or ) also known as "Arepa Power" is the national baseball team of Venezuela. It is currently ranked fifth in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
Venezuela has competed in every edition of the World Baseball Classic since 2006, with its best result before 2026 being a semifinal appearance in 2009. It won its first major international title in the 1941 Amateur World Series, defeating a heavily favored Team Cuba, and won two more world championships in the 1940s. It has also historically dominated baseball at the Bolivarian Games. In 2026, it qualified for the Summer Olympics for the first time via its performance in the World Baseball Classic.
Venezuela competed against Israel, Netherlands, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua in the 2026 World Baseball Classic from March 6–11, 2026, at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida. After advancing from the group stage, Team Venezuela was undefeated in the knockout stage, facing Japan, Italy, and finally United States, notching their first World Baseball Classic win, 3–2.
History Venezuela debuted in international competition at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games in Panama City, finishing sixth. The country first participated in what was then the top level of international baseball competition, the Amateur World Series (later to be known as the Baseball World Cup), in 1940.
Venezuela won its first international baseball title the following year, defeating defending champions Cuba at the 1941 Amateur World Series in Havana. The championship team, with illustrious names from the country's amateur circuits like Héctor Benítez, Daniel "Chino" Canónico, and José Antonio Casanova, was hailed as "Los Heroes del '41" ("Heroes of '41"). The victory of the 1941 AWS is cited as the catalyst for baseball's exploding popularity in Venezuela, Venezuelan President Isaías Medina Angarita declared October 22, the day of the championship game, a national holiday.
World Baseball Classic era 2009-23 Venezuela competed in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, playing its opening games in Pool C, in Toronto, Ontario. 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.
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.
The team competed against Team Israel, Team Puerto Rico, Team Dominican Republic, and Team Nicaragua in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Miami, Florida, coming in first in the pool, but losing to the U.S. in the next round.
2026 Team Venezuela competed against Team Israel, Team Netherlands, Team Dominican Republic, and Team Nicaragua in pool play of the 2026 World Baseball Classic. They played from March 6–17, 2026, at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, in Pool D.
Houston Astros bench coach Omar López managed Team Venezuela at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
After an upset victory against Team Japan in the quarterfinals, a victory against the insurgent Team Italy in the semifinals, the Venezuela national team won their first World Baseball Classic final against Team USA, 3–2.
Olympics era As one of the Latin American baseball powerhouses, Venezuela remarkably has not competed in the Olympics tournament which began from 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, unlike more famous teams such as Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
2028 The 2026 World Baseball Classic is the first tournament in any sport to have 2028 Summer Olympics qualification quota spots directly available, in this case for the top-two-performing Americas teams excluding Olympic hosts the United States, who have already qualified automatically.
On 14 March 2026, after securing a vital victory against Japan in the quarterfinals, Venezuela qualified for the historically first time in the six-team baseball tournament for LA28.
Current roster
Results and fixtures The following is a list of professional baseball match results currently active in the latest version of the WBSC World Rankings, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Legend
2019
2022
2023
2024
2026
Tournament record
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: The player is a citizen of the nation the team represents. The player is qualified for citizenship or to hold a passport under the laws of a nation represented by a team, but has not been granted citizenship or been issued a passport, then the player may be made eligible by WBCI upon petition by the player or team. The player is a permanent legal resident of the nation or territory the team represents. The player was born in the nation or territory the team represents. The player has one parent who is, or if deceased was, a citizen of the nation the team represents. The player has one parent who was born in the nation or territory the team represents. YearRoundPosition 2006 Quarterfinals 7th 3 3 22 20 No qualifiers held 2009 Third place 3rd 6 2 45 36 No qualifiers held 2013 Group stage 10th 1 2 17 21 Automatically qualified 2017 Quarterfinals 8th 2 5 28 55 Automatically qualified 2023 Quarterfinals 5th 4 1 30 18 Automatically qualified 2026 Champions 1st 6 1 41 21 Automatically qualified Total Semifinals 6/6 24 14 183 171 — — — —
Olympic Games YearRoundPositionMethod 1992 Did not qualify Did not enter 1996 2000 2004 Withdrew from qualification 2008 5th, Americas Qualifying Tournament 2020 Final Qualifying Tournament 2028 Qualified 2026 World Baseball Classic Total Preliminary 1/7 0 0 0 0
WBSC Premier12 YearRoundPositionSquadRanking 2015 Group stage 10th 5 2 3 26 36 Squad 10th 2019 Opening Round 7th 3 1 2 11 12 Squad 9th 2024 Fourth Place 4th 9 5 4 45 34 Squad 6th 2027 To be determined Total 0 Titles 3/3 17 8 9 82 82 —
Baseball World Cup (1938–2011) YearResultPosition 1938 Did not participate IBF 1939 1940 Single-table tournament 4th 12 5 7 1941 Single-table tournament 1st 9 8 1 1942 Single-table tournament 3rd 12 7 5 1943 Did not participated 1944 Single-table tournament 1st 12 9 3 FIBA 1945 Single-table tournament 1st 10 10 0 1947 Single-table tournament 5th 8 5 3 1948 Did not participated 1950 Single-table tournament 3rd 11 9 2 1951 Single-table tournament 2nd 13 11 2 1952 Single-table tournament 6th 10 5 5 1953 Single-table tournament 2nd 10 9 1 1961 Single-table tournament 3rd 6 6 3 1965 Did not participated 1969 Single-table tournament 4th 10 7 3 1970 Single-table tournament 5th 11 7 4 1971 Did not participated 1972 1973 Single-table tournament 3rd 14 10 4 1973 Did not participated FEMBA 1974 1976 AINBA 1978 1980 Single-table tournament 7th 11 4 7 1982 Did not participated IBAF 1984 1986 Single-table tournament 7th 11 5 6 63 73 1988 Did not qualify 1990 Group stage 12th 8 1 7 33 63 1994 Did not qualify 1998 2001 2003 2005 2007 Group stage 12th 7 2 5 33 37 2009 7th place game 7th 15 9 6 70 58 2011 7th place game 7th 12 6 6 52 91 Total 3 Titles 24/38 249 177 80 — —
Pan American Games 1955 : 3rd 1959 : 1st 1975 : 3rd
Bolivarian Games
1938 : 1st : 2nd : 1st : 1st : 1st : 1st : 2nd : 1st : 1st : 1st : 2nd : 2nd 2013 : 2nd : 3rd 2022 : 3rd : 3rd
U-23 Baseball World Cup Gold: 2021 Bronze: 2018
Players 2006 World Baseball Classic 2009 World Baseball Classic 2013 World Baseball Classic
Managers
Manager Nat. Years active Competitions Ref. Manuel Capote 1940 1940 Amateur World Series — 5th place Manuel Malpica 1941–1947 1941 Amateur World Series — Champions1942 Amateur World Series — 3rd place1947 Amateur World Series — 6th place José Antonio Casanova 1944–1959 1944 Amateur World Series — Champions1945 Amateur World Series — Champions1953 Amateur World Series — Runners-up1954 Central American and Caribbean Games — Champions1959 Pan American Games — Champions Luis Baroni 1951 1951 Amateur World Series — Runners-up Daniel Canónico 1952 1952 Amateur World Series — 6th place José Manuel Tovar 1961 1961 Amateur World Series — 3rd place Osvaldo Castellanos 1973 1973 FIBA Amateur World Series — 3rd place Remigio Hermoso 1983 1983 Pan American Games — 4th place José Piovan 1986 1986 Amateur World Series — 3rd place Pedro Ávila 1987 1987 Pan American Games — 7th place Domingo Carrasquel 1990 1990 Baseball World Cup — 12th place Otilio Chourio 2001 2001 Bolivarian Games Luis Sojo 2006–2015 2006 World Baseball Classic – 7th place2009 World Baseball Classic – 3rd place2011 Baseball World Cup – 7th place2013 World Baseball Classic – 10th place2015 WBSC Premier12 – 10th place Henry Campos 2007 2007 Pan American Games2010 South American Games Omar Vizquel 2017 2017 World Baseball Classic – 8th place Edwin Hurtado 2017–2018 2017 Bolivarian Games2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Carlos Subero 2019 2019 WBSC Premier12 José Alguacil 2021 2020 Summer Olympic qualifiers Omar López 2023–2026 2023 World Baseball Classic — Quarterfinals2024 WBSC Premier12 — 4th place2026 World Baseball Classic — Champions Carlos García 2023 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games — 4th place Oswaldo Navarro 2025 2025 Bolivarian Games — 3rd place
Uniform
See also
Players from Venezuela in MLB
References
External links