OKLAHOMA CITY – Announced today by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), USA Softball has been awarded hosting rights for one of three U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage events next fall in Dallas, Texas as well as the Finals in 2025. With the Group Stage event slated for August 29-Sept. 2, the upcoming WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup will be the first in its history to be played under the new two-stage format where the Group Stage and the Finals will be held in consecutive years.
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Also selected as a host for the Group Stage is Sao Paulo, Brazil – with the third host to be announced at a later date. Expanding the number of teams from previous years, 18 squads will participate across the three groups with the top two from each Group Stage event advancing to the Finals in 2025 along with two wild cards.
In conjunction with the Dallas Sports Commission, USA Softball will host its seventh Junior Women’s World Cup event having previously hosted in Fargo, N.D. (1985), Oklahoma City, Okla. (1987 & 2015), Normal, Ill. (1995), Clearwater, Fla. (2017) and Irvine, Calif. (2019) – while the 2024 edition will mark the first WBSC World Cup event hosted in Dallas.
Both the Group Stage event and the Finals in 2025 will be held at The Village Dallas – a mixed-use development that includes sports facilities, retail, hotels, restaurants and more. The venue will play host to six countries who will compete for a spot in the World Cup Finals.
As hosts of a WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage event, world-ranked No. 1 Team USA and No. 23 Brazil will receive an automatic bid in each respective group events – totaling 10 qualified teams so far. Joining in on the action, No. 2 Japan, No. 4 Chinese Taipei and No. 15 China each qualified at the Asia Qualifier, while No. 6 Italy, No. 9 Czech Republic and No. 21 Ireland qualified at the Europe Qualifier followed by No. 32 New Zealand and No. 10 Australia clinching a spot at the Oceania Qualifier.
The latest edition of the WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup was previously held in Lima, Peru in 2021 where the Red, White and Blue won its fourth-consecutive world title – totaling eight world titles overall – and was capped with a thrilling narrow 1-0 win over Chinese Taipei to stand atop the podium.
The WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup marks the second international softball event to be hosted by USA Softball in 2024 – with the previously announced WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Group Stage event slated for September at the Softball Capital of the World®.
For more information on the Women’s National Team program, visit USASoftball.com.