IX Women's Baseball World Cup: WBSC reveals second Wild Card, group composition

The WBSC Executive Board granted the United States the second Wild Card for the IX Women's Baseball World Cup, which starts with the group stage in Canada and Japan later this year. It also confirmed the composition of both groups.

The ninth edition of the 12-team tournament inaugurates a two-stage format. The participants are split into two groups, with the top two finishers in each group plus two wild cards advancing to the final stage.

The Continental quota for the tournament is as follows:

• Americas (4)
• Asia (4)
• Europe (1)
• Oceania (1)
• Wild Cards (2)

Nine teams have already qualified for the IX WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Group Stage:

• World No. 16 France won the European Championship.
• No. 5 Venezuela, No. 7 Cuba, No. 9 Puerto Rico, and No. 12 Mexico were the top four finishers of the Americas Qualifier.
• No. 8 Australia qualified as the top-ranked nation in Oceania.
• No. 3 Canada earned a Wild Card as Group A's host.
• No. 4 USA was awarded the second Wild Card.
• No. 1 Japan earned the right as Group B host, taking one of Asia's four spots.

The third Women's Baseball Asia Cup will serve as the Asia qualifier. It is scheduled from 21 May to 2 June in Hong Kong. The top-three teams will qualify for the IX WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup. The fourth-place team will qualify if Japan finishes in one of the three top spots.

Meanwhile, the composition of the IX WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup two groups was confirmed as the following:

Group A (8-13 August in Thunder Bay, Canada) will feature Canada, USA, Australia, Asia 3, Asia 4, Mexico.

Group B (13-17 September in Miyoshi City, Japan) will feature Asia 1 (Japan), Asia 2, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, France.