Singapore men’s softball team make historic entry into world’s top 10

SINGAPORE – Following the disappointment of

losing their SEA Games gold

, the Singapore men’s softball team celebrated a historic achievement as they broke into the world’s top 10 for the first time.

In the latest World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) rankings released on Dec 31, the Republic rose one position with 1,078 points and replaced the Dominican Republic (1,052) in 10th place.

Japan (2,989) ended the year top of the pile, with Singapore the second-ranked Asian team on the list, which is based on points accumulated from tournaments over the past four years.

After seeing the team climb from 22nd to 10th over the past seven years, Singapore Baseball and Softball Association (SBSA) president Foo Pei said the team’s results reflect “the hard work, discipline and belief shown by our players, coaches, team managers and support staff over an extended period of time”.

Noting that the national women’s softball and men’s baseball teams are ranked 22nd and 46th respectively, she felt the rankings show that SBSA is “building capability across our national programmes”.

She added: “Just as importantly, these rankings are underpinned by the work being done in our age-group teams, which form the pipeline for future senior squads and give us confidence that this progress is sustainable.

“For the men’s softball programme, we see a clear pathway taking shape. Alongside senior competition, our athletes are gaining valuable international exposure through structured overseas training, including our annual programmes in Japan and Australia, and through age-group competitions such as the WBSC Under-23 World Cup and the U-18 Asia Cup.

“These opportunities are critical in preparing our players for the demands of high-level international play.”

The national men’s softball team have improved by leaps and bounds since finishing third at the 2015 SEA Games on home soil.

They won their first SEA Games gold in 2019, when they also secured maiden World Cup qualification.

In 2025, they made it to the World Cup again, and beat then world No. 4 Australia for the first time with a

10-9 victory at the World Games

. While they lost 3-0 in the SEA Games final to the Philippines, they gained enough points to crack the top 10.

National co-captain Dominic Han is proud of the team’s unprecedented achievement despite the challenges.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force officer, 32, noted how there is a lack of softball culture here, with players getting exposed to the sport only in “late primary or early secondary school”.

He added: “Softball is also not available in many schools due to the lack of a field that is large enough to play softball. In addition, softball is not available in polytechnics, institutes of technical education and universities here, so we do lose the opportunity to develop good players. These limit the crucial development stages and hence the pool of players.

“As a result of this limited pool, we cannot have high-level local competition. We barely have enough good players to compete against each other, unlike top softball nations like Japan, the United States, Canada and even the Philippines, who are able to host local competitions and naturally sharpen their skills.”

To ensure that up-and-coming players stay in the talent pipeline, the SBSA has created age-group sides, such as the full-time national servicemen team.

This provides players who have come through the junior college, secondary and primary school teams an avenue to train and develop during national service and make for a smoother transition to the senior men’s team.

Han is also grateful for the backing of their families, employers, colleagues and support system.

He said: “I believe success should not solely be measured by our ranking, but rather by the success of having softball played and enjoyed at the different age groups, where players are exposed to the game early, have an avenue to train and compete, but also be able to play recreationally and enjoy the game till an older age.”

“As a national team, we aim to be competitive at the world level, qualifying for the world championships and playing good competitive softball. With earlier exposure and opportunities to play, we’ll naturally eventually experience a higher standard of softball in Singapore,” he added.

While the national men’s softball team do not have any major assignments in 2026 as the event is not included in the Asian Games, Singapore will play in the April 25-May 3 WBSC U-23 men’s softball World Cup. But the Republic will be represented at the Asian Games in women’s softball and men’s baseball.

Foo shared that the various teams will have overseas training and competition opportunities in Canada, Australia and within South-east Asia.

“As we look ahead, our priority is to strengthen the foundations that support our athletes,” said Foo. “This includes continuing to grow our coaching and management teams, as well as ensuring we have the capacity to fund training trips and competitions in a way that is sustainable and fair to our players, many of whom currently contribute to part of their own travel expenses.

“Greater financial and sponsorship support will allow us to better support our athletes while maintaining the progress they have worked so hard to achieve.”