"We are celebrating a year full of giving and happiness," wrote the refugees of the Azraq camp to WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. The WBSC intends to include the Azraq Baseball5 team participate in the 2026 Youth Olympic Games. 

WBSC Head Coach Amjed Alatoom invited all the players and their families to celebrate the moment on New Year's Day and to congratulate the participants and their parents on this achievement. The celebrations continued on the Baseball5 fields at the Azraq Refugee Camp, where 60 children took part in a series of practice games.

"In these moments, we celebrate a year full of giving and happiness from the entire refugee team. We remember with great pride at the beginning of this year your continued support, encouragement, and guidance to the team at the beginning of this year, which bodes well for the future," the Baseball5 refugee team members team wrote to WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. 

The Azraq Refugee Camp is home to over 39,000 people, 60% of whom are children, who have been displaced by the war in neighbouring Syria. And as one of the WBSC's nine strategic goals is to grow our sport and make it relevant to people's lives and communities, Baseball5 will be used to give refugees access to the sport, regardless of their background. 

The WBSC intends for the Azraq Baseball5 Team to participate in the 2026 Youth Olympic Games. During the 2024 season, the WBSC will explore opportunities for the team to participate in training camps and tournaments outside of Jordan.

Last March, President Riccardo Fraccari officially opened the Baseball5 field during the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival at the Humanitarian Sports Centre in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan. 

"I can honestly say that this was one of my proudest moments, not only in sport, but in life. On this special occasion, it was a pleasure to be together with the Chairman of the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, the President of World Taekwondo, Chungwon Choue, and the President of ASOIF, Francesco Ricci Bitti, who share the WBSC's view on the need for sport to embrace social responsibility," he said at the time. 

"When I sat to lunch with the children, it touched my heart to see the friendship between them . And when they took to the field to play Baseball5, it was an emotional experience to see the joy in their eyes. Coach Amjad Alatoom, who has been working with the kids over for the past few of months, has done a great job of teaching them the fundamentals of the sport in a fun and accessible way and I was proud of that," Fraccari added proudly.