Groups confirmed for WBSC Men's Softball World Cup, Israel awarded wild card
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today confirmed the groups for the XVIII WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Group Stage, which will take place in June, July and September this year following the completion of the Africa and Americas qualifiers in March and April respectively.
World No. 4 Argentina repeated as Pan American champions on 14 April to earn a ticket to the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup along with No. 7 Venezuela, No. 12 Guatemala, No. 19 Colombia and No. 20 Dominican Republic. While South Africa, ranked No. 16, and Botswana, ranked No. 33, earned their tickets to the World Cup at the African Qualifier on 3 March. However, Botswana declined their participation in the competition, opening a spot for a wild card, which was subsequently awarded to world No. 15 Israel.
On 12 February, the WBSC first announced the groups for the World Cup, comprising the 10 teams already qualified at that time. Ten days later, Hong Kong, China received a wild card and was placed in Group B, leaving the final seven spots for Africa and the Americas to be determined after the qualifiers.
Group A, scheduled from 12 to 16 June in Hermosillo, Mexico, will feature the defending world champions and top-ranked in the world Australia, No. 5 and European champions Czechia, Venezuela, hosts and No. 9 Mexico, and Dominican Republic. The 19 games will be staged at the Carlos Ortiz Stadium and the newly renovated Mundialistas Hermosillenses Stadium, venues of last year's WBSC U-18 Men's Softball World Cup.
Israel and Argentina have been allocated in Group B, along with No. 3 Canada, No. 8 New Zealand, No. 11 Singapore and No. 24 Hong Kong, China. This group will run between 10 and 14 July in Prince Albert, Canada, at Max Power Ball Fields at Prime Ministers Park, home of the WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Cup 2018.
Group C will be staged in Oklahoma City from 17 to 21 September, with hosts and No. 6 in the world USA receiving Asian champions and No. 2 Japan, Guatemala, South Africa, No. 17 Netherlands and Colombia. The OGE Energy Field at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, main venue of the U-19 Women's Softball World Cup 2015, will host this group.
The top two teams from each group, plus two wild cards, will advance to the World Championship Finals, to be played in Prince Albert in the summer of 2025, in the same facilities of Group B.
A total of 57 games will be played across the Group Stage. Each group will play a 15-game round robin before the fifth and sixth placed teams will play for fifth place in the group while the top four teams advance to the Play-Offs. The top two sides will play each other with a ticket to the Finals at stake, while the loser of the first play-off game will then play against the third v fourth winner for the second spot in the Finals.
The game schedule of the Group Stage will be announced in the coming weeks.