New Two-Stage Format adds teams, host cities & excitement to XVII Women’s Softball World Cup

With the XVII Women’s Softball World Cup just around the corner, the biggest international softball tournament in the world will bring in July one of the biggest novelties and innovations in the history of the tournament, with the implementation of the Two-Stage Format, a competition system that allows more participating teams in the World Cup and host cities as well as adding excitement and competitiveness to every stage of the tournament.

Under the new format, the Group Stage and the Finals of the World Cups will be played in different and consecutive years. In the XVII Women’s Softball World Cup’s case, the Group Stage will be played in July 2023, and will finish with the Finals in the summer of 2024. 

A total of 18 teams have been placed into three different groups for the Group Stage: Group A will be staged in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland, from 11 to 15 July; Group B will run from 18 to 22 July in Valencia, Spain; while Buttrio and Castions di Strada, Italy, will host Group C from 22 to 26 July. All three countries are first time hosts of a WBSC Softball World Cup illustrating the opportunities the new two-stage format provides for hosts cities.

The six participating teams of each group will open the tournament with single round robin. The top four teams in the final standings will advance to the knockout games, with the top-two earning a double chance to secure their ticket to the Finals in 2024. 

The knockout games will open with an elimination game between the third and fourth place teams, followed by a one versus two matchup, with the winner earning the first available ticket to the Finals. The winner of the first game (3 vs 4) and the loser of the second game (1 vs 2) will meet in the Repechage Game, in a winner-takes-all contest for the second spot in next year’s Finals.

The top-two teams from each group, plus two wild cards, will advance to the XVII Women’s Softball World Cup Finals, to be played in 2024 in Italy. The wild cards designation criteria for the Finals are (in order): 

• Criteria 1: One Wild Card spot secured for host country; 
• Criteria 2: Top third-place team(s) in the Group Stage, based on final standings from the previous edition of the World Cup; 
• Criteria 3: Top third-place team(s) in the Group Stage based on the highest position in the WBSC Rankings at the end of the previous calendar year.

The eight-team Finals will consist in a single round robin, with the top-two teams playing the final for the title of world champion, and third and fourth place finishers playing for bronze.