The 1998
Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 33rd international Men's
amateurbaseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the
International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the
1938 tournament through the
1986 AWS. The tournament was held, for the third time, in
Italy, from July 21 to August 2. The final was a repeat of the previous BWC tournament, with
Cuba again defeating
South Korea in the final, winning its 22nd title.
There were 16 participating countries, split into two groups, with the first four of each group qualifying for the finals.
This was the first edition of the tournament that allowed professional players to take part in the competition.[1]
The next six competitions were also held as the BWC tournament, which was replaced
in 2015 by the quadrennial
WBSC Premier12.