The field for the next edition of the World Baseball Classic has been set.

The World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) announced on Tuesday that the final eight teams invited to participate in the tournament — Australia, Canada, China, Taiwan, Italy, Netherlands, Panama and South Africa — will round out the 16-team field for the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

The initial invitations were given out in April 2007 to the eight teams — Cuba, Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela — that advanced to the second round of the inaugural WBC in 2006.