Masatake Matsuda of Japan has died at the age of 84 ©WBSC

World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) President Riccardo Fraccari has paid tribute to former administrator Masatake Matsuda of Japan following his death at the age of 84.

Matsuda, a former vice-president of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), died of liver cancer.

The Japanese official was elected to his position at the IBAF, which merged with the International Softball Federation to create the WBSC in 2013, in 2005.

The former head of the Japan Amateur Baseball Association campaigned for an international extra-inning tie-break, tested during the Under-18 Baseball World Cup in 2008 before being introduced at the Beijing Olympics that same year.

"We are all deeply saddened by the loss of a great member of the global baseball family Mr Matsuda," Fraccari said.

"Your contribution was instrumental to shaping the international game as we know it now."

Matsuda was also a key figure in the railway industry and is a former President of East Japan Railway Co.

He was a keen promoter of the April 1987 privatisation of Japanese National Railways.