2025 U-18 Women's Softball World Cup

The 2025 U-18 Women's Softball World Cup is the fifteenth edition of the U-18 Women's Softball World Cup, which will be hosted for the first time by three nations.^[1][2]

The tournament, with a history of 42 years and 14 editions, moved to a four-year cycle and changed its competition format in 2024. The Group Stage were held between 23 July and 9 September 2024 in São Paulo, Pingtan, and Dallas. The Finals will be held in 27 September–2 October 2025 in Oklahoma City.^[3][4][5]

The previous U-18 Women's Softball World Cup was played in Lima, Peru in December 2021, with the United States winning their fourth consecutive world title, and eighth overall, following a dramatic 1–0 victory against Chinese Taipei in the final.^[6]

On 13 December 2023, the World Baseball Softball Confederation announced Dallas as the host for one of the groups and the Finals. This will mark the first time that Dallas has hosted a softball World Cup at any category. The United States has hosted the U-18 Women's Softball World Cup (previously called the Junior Women's Softball World Championship and U-19 Women's Softball World Cup) six times in the past.^[7]

On 21 December 2023, it was announced that the tournament would return to China after 21 years. Nanjing hosted the event in 2003. This will be the third Softball World Cup on Chinese soil, having also hosted the 2006 Women's Softball World Championship in Beijing.^[8]

The same day, Sao Paulo was announced as the host city for the other group. Brazil will host a Softball World Cup for the first time, becoming the 16th nation to host a Women's Softball World Cup, across all categories. Counting Men's Softball World Cups, Brazil will be the 20th host nation of a global softball event.^[9]

Group A was played in São Paulo, Brazil, from 23 to 27 July. Group B was played in Pingtan, China, from 14 to 18 August. Group C was played in Dallas, United States, from 29 August to 2 September.

Under the new format, the Group Stage and Finals of the World Cups are played in consecutive years. A total of 18 teams will participate in the U-18 Women's Softball World Cup, distributed in three different groups for the Group Stage. Two teams from each group, plus two wild cards, will advance to the Finals, to be played in 2025.

Each group of six teams will play a single round robin, with the top four teams in the standings advancing to the play-offs. The play-offs will open with a knockout match between the third- and fourth-placed teams, followed by a one-on-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 competition for second place in next year's Finals.

The wildcard designation criteria for the Finals are (in order):

Criteria 1: A wildcard spot secured for the host country;

Criteria 2: Team(s) with the best third-place finish in the Group Stage, based on the final standings of the previous edition of the World Cup;

Criteria 3: Team(s) in third place in the Group Stage based on the highest position in the WBSC World Ranking at the end of the previous calendar year.

During the final phase, after a group round-robin, the top two seeds from each group advance to the Super Round, while the number three and four seeds will compete in the Placement Round. The number one and two seeds after the Super Round will compete in the World Cup Final. The third and fourth-place finishers will play for bronze.

With the approved format of 18 national teams, the WBSC has distributed the continental quotas as follows:^[1][2]

• Wild card Hosts 2 slots:  United States,  Brazil
• WBSC Europe 3 slots:  Czech Republic,  Italy,  Ireland ^[10][11]
• WBSC Asia 3 slots:  Japan,  Chinese Taipei,  China ^[12]
• WBSC Oceania 2 slots:  New Zealand,  Australia ^[13]
• WBSC Americas 5 slots:  Puerto Rico,  Canada,  Mexico,  Peru,  Colombia ^[14][15]
• WBSC Africa 2 slots
• Wild card 1+2 slots:  Great Britain,  Netherlands,  Philippines ^[16]

The participants were determined through the continental championships. Due to the absence of national teams and qualifying tournaments in Africa, the two available spots for this continent were granted as invitations to teams that did not qualify through their respective continental championships.^[17]

Year in italics means venue of the event. Year in bold means champion of the event.

32 umpires were selected by the WBSC for the tournament.

39 scorers and technical commissions were selected by the WBSC for the tournament.

Group A will be contested in Sao Paulo during 23–27 July 2024.

Group B will be contested in Pingtan during 15–19 August 2024.

Group A will be contested in Dallas during 29 August – 2 September 2024.

The ranking of the wildcard spots for the finals stage are as follows.

• 1) Hosts
• 2)Top third-place team(s) in the Group Stage, based on final standings from the previous edition of the World Cup
• 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.

United States qualified for the finals as host of that stage, while Mexico qualified as the third placed team with the next best finish at the previous U-18 World Cup.

• Official website