Three World Cups, 136 games to be played under two-stage format in exciting WBSC international softball season

With just under three weeks until the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) international softball season begins, three events will captivate the attention of softball fans around the world in 2024, all of them being played under the new two-stage format.

The XVII Women's Softball World Cup Finals will crown a World Champion in Italy this summer, while the Men's Softball World Cup and the U-18 Women's Softball World Cup will start with a group stage. A total of 136 Softball World Cup games will be contested in 2024.

Under the new format, the Group Stage and the Finals of the World Cups are played in consecutive years. A total of 18 teams will participate in the Men's Softball World Cup and the U-18 Women's Softball World Cup, allocated across three different groups for the Group Stage. 

The XVIII Men’s Softball World Cup will open in 20 days, on 12 June, with Group A in Hermosillo, Mexico; followed by Group B (10 to 14 July) in Prince Albert, Canada; and Group C in Oklahoma City, USA, from 17 to 21 September. 

The II U-18 Women's Softball World Cup will be played under the same format. Group A will be staged in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 23 to 27 July; Group B will run from 14 to 18 August in Pingtan, China; while Dallas, USA, will host Group C from 29 August to 2 September. Brazil is a first time host of a WBSC Softball World Cup further illustrating the opportunities the new two-stage format provides for hosts cities.

Two teams from each group, plus two wild cards, will advance to the Finals, to be played in 2025. 

Each six-team group will play a single round robin, and the top four teams in the standings will advance to the play-offs. The play-offs 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 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 Men's Softball World Cup Finals is scheduled for 8 to 13 July 2025 in Prince Albert while the U-18 Women's Softball World Cup Finals will be staged in Dallas, USA.

Women's Softball World Cup Finals

The first tournament to implement the two stage format was the Women's Softball World Cup, which opened with the group stage last year and is ready for the Finals this summer. 

USA and Australia from Group A, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands from Group B, and Japan and Canada from C advanced to the Finals, along with China and Italy, who finished as the best third placed teams to complete the eight participants that will have the honour to fight for the World Championship title in 2024.

The eight teams have been placed in two groups, with the top-two advancing to the Super Round. The two teams with the best records in the Super Round will play for the title of world champion, while third and fourth place finishers will play for bronze. 

The Italian Baseball Softball Federation (FIBS) will host the tournament in Castions di Strada, in the north-eastern Friuli Venezia Giulia region, from 15 to 20 July 2024.