When world No. 10 Korea take on No. 11 Hong Kong, China in Game 1 of the IX WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup on Tuesday, a new competition format will be in place for the premier women’s baseball competition - a Two-Stage Format.
Under the new format, the Group Stage and the Finals of the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup will be played in consecutive years. In this case, the Group Stage will be played in August and October 2023, and will finish with the Finals in the summer of 2024.
For the Group Stage, the 12 participating teams have been drawn into two groups of six teams.
Group A will be hosted in Thunder Bay, Canada, from 8 to 13 August, with No. 3 Canada; No. 4 USA; No. 8 Australia; No. 10 Korea; No. 11 Hong Kong, China; and No. 12 Mexico in action. See Group A’s schedule here.
Miyoshi City, Japan, will host Group B from 13 to 19 September featuring hosts and world No. 1 Japan; No. 2 Chinese Taipei; No. 5 Venezuela; No. 7 Cuba; No. 9 Puerto Rico and No. 16 France. See Group B’s schedule here.
Each group consists of a single round robin, featuring games of seven innings, with the top two teams at the completion of the round robin games earning a spot in the Finals.
In addition, two wild cards will be awarded for the Finals. If Canada finishes Group A in the top-three positions, then both third-place finishers from Groups A and B will advance to the Finals 2024 as wild cards. However, if Canada finishes lower than third place in the Group Stage, then they receive an automatic berth in the Finals as host team, and the final wild card goes to the best third place finisher, according to the following criteria (in order):
- Criterion 1: Final standings of previous World Cup
- Criterion 2: World rankings at 31.12.2023
The six-team Finals will be played in a single round robin format, with the first and second place teams after the round robin facing off For the Title of World Champion while the third and fourth place finishers will play the Bronze Medal Game.
