De Wills Baseball Club of Bayelsa has won the Super Five Baseball Championship after defeating defending champions Delta State in the final decided at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The final was the climax of a national league season that started with 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 for 2026.
President of the Nigeria Baseball and Softball Federation who also doubles as President of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation for Africa, Uche Odozor, said the Super Five brings together the best teams from the 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 honors here at the Moshood Abiola Baseball Park Abuja,” Odozor said.
Odozor recalled that baseball made its entry into Nigeria in 1960 during the Peace Corps era, same time it was introduced in Japan, but the promoters exited during the Nigerian civil war in 1967 before the sport was reintroduced in the 1990s by former players.
He said since coming on board as president, he has aligned the sport with the National Sports Commission under Chairman Shehu Dikko and the Director General, whose vision is to expand sports to every nook and cranny of the country.
The federation president noted that Nigeria’s large youth population gives baseball a huge advantage, adding that the federation brought in analysts from Japan to assess home-grown talents during the championship.
“We also have some analysts from Japan who are here to assess the players based on their skills and some of these players will be taken to Japan in November for further intensive training, preparatory to those that will make the national team that will fight to qualify Nigeria for the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028,” Odozor stated.
He described baseball as economically rewarding and built around STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – with a Baseballership programme now being introduced and baseball now a medal sport in Nigerian universities.
“Baseball commands the highest sign-on fees, much more than any other sports. The highest paid athlete in the world is a baseballer, earning a whopping over $700 million as a sign-on fee,” Odozor said, adding that the vision is to take baseball back to military barracks and schools to grow talents that can be exported to major leagues.
Nigeria National Baseball Team Head Coach, Mr. Shinya Tomonari, said he is from Japan, a nation that has held the number one position in world baseball rankings for twelve consecutive years, and that he received his appointment on June 8 after NBSF President visited Japan.
“My mission is clear: To make Nigeria the strongest and the most respected baseball team in Africa. Nigeria baseball has always had brilliance. In 1999, when NBSF COO Dr. Armstrong was the team’s ace pitcher, Nigeria won the silver medal at the All Africa Games in Johannesburg. Nigeria is a land rich with diamonds,” Tomonari said.
Tomonari, who has previously managed Ghana, Tanzania and South Sudan, said Africa has been his field for 30 years and that as representative of J-ABS he is implementing Baseballership Education, a human development programme through baseball, in 13 African countries.
As his first task, he said he evaluated many players through the Super Five with Japan’s leading analyst Daisuke Hoshikawa and assistant analyst Takumu Yamada using the Trackman System to measure and quantify each player’s abilities.
“Based on these data, we will select 23 national team candidates and create individualized development plans. With a coaching staff of 10, we will build a strong follow-up system and prepare for the Africa Championship scheduled for next July,” he said.
He added that in November, several Nigerian players will be invited to Japan for training with professional baseball teams and top university programmes, to build a team worthy of Nigeria’s population and economic power.
Captain of Team Delta, Suleman Abdulrahman Bala, whose team had dominated Nigerian baseball for many years as defending champions, said the competition was fair but alleged a change in format.
“So it was supposed to be a league with the winner determined by points accumulated but instead, all of a sudden, they changed it to championship games for reasons we don’t know. It seems whenever it comes to Delta state, every rule applies, at the same time, they change rules arbitrarily,” Bala said.
Bala said the magnitude of the competition is too complex for a single individual to organise and called for more sponsors and more strong states. Reacting to the defeat, he added, “We’ve been the champion for years so for them to win us today doesn’t mean we have dropped in standard. It only means they are working.”
Captain of De Wills Baseball Club, Adebisi David, said winning the title was stressful after days of competition, and credited his teammates, coach and management for the success.
“I feel so good because the selections for the national team to play through the qualifiers for Olympics 2028 which will be held in LA, United States is on so, I feel good to be the champions of this league,” David said.
David noted that organisation is getting better and if such programmes continue, more Nigerian players will improve and make it to Major League Baseball.
Secretary General of the Federation, Robert Anthony, who has been Development Secretary for over 15 years, said Nigeria has hurdles to cross for Los Angeles 2028, including the African qualifier and a playoff in Oceania, and disclosed that gloves are now being produced in Nigeria to reduce cost and to supply other African countries.
Executive Director of Arnold Sports International Foundation, Adeyinka Adewusi, organisers of the Honor International Baseball Elite, said the second phase started on September 20 in Abuja after the first phase in Ilorin, with each team playing a single round robin before semi-finals, with Kwara beating Niger for third place, and said the foundation is going to schools and engaging the National Sports Commission for support to grow the sport.
