Australia, Japan and Canada all climbed one position and established themselves as the top three men's softball programmes following the latest update to the WBSC Men's Softball World Rankings on the back of the WBSC U-18 Men's Softball World Cup, which was held in Hermosillo, Mexico last week.
New No. 1 Australia, who are world champions in the senior and U-23 Men's Softball categories and finished fifth in Mexico, now have 3,318 points followed by U-18 Men's Softball World Champions Japan on 3,286. Canada, who claimed the bronze medal in Mexico, is in third place with 2,852 points.
Former world No. 1 Argentina, who finished eighth in Mexico fell to fourth place on 2,835 points followed by Czechia who finished in seventh place at the WBSC U-18 Men's Softball World Cup to move up one position to fifth place on 2,477 points.
The most improved programme in places 11-20 was Colombia, who finished 10th at the WBSC U-18 Men's Softball World Cup to climb up five positions to No. 19. Great Britain moved up seven spots to become the most improved nation in places 21 to 30.
The Men's Softball World Rankings latest update includes 45 programmes across the five Olympic continents, including eight new countries - American Samoa, Belgium, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Germany, Nicaragua and Spain - with Malaysia dropping out.
The WBSC World Rankings include points from tournaments within the past four years. The Men's Softball World Ranking Methodology is available here.
This latest update includes points earned through the WBSC U-18 Men's Softball World Cup, the continental qualification tournaments to the World Cup, the Asia, Europe and Oceania Qualifiers to the Men's Softball World Cup, the Great Britain Series, the Central American and Caribbean Games and the Central American Championship.
Points attributed from six 2019 tournaments, including the XVI Men's Softball World Championship, have expired.
