USA Softball and Dallas will host one of three U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage events next year as well as the 2025 finals, the World Baseball Softball Confederation announced this week.
The group stage is scheduled for August 29 through September 2, the first in WBSC history to have a group stage and finals in consecutive years. Hosting in conjunction with the Dallas Sports Commission, both events will be held at The Village Dallas with the group stage featuring six countries competing for a spot in the finals.
The WBSC also selected Sao Paulo, Brazil, as a host for the group stage with a third host yet to be announced. As hosts, the U.S. and Brazil receive automatic bids in each respective group events – totaling 10 qualified teams so far. 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.
USA Softball will host its seventh Junior Women’s World Cup event, having previously hosted in Fargo, North Dakota (1985), Oklahoma City (1987 & 2015), Normal, Illinois (1995), Clearwater, Florida (2017) and Irvine, California (2019). Next year’s events will be the first time the WBSC has been hosted in Dallas.
The latest edition of the WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup was held in Lima, Peru, in 2021 where the United States won its fourth-consecutive world title and eighth overall. The World Cup is the second international softball event scheduled to be hosted by USA Softball in 2024 along with – with a Men’s Softball World Cup Group Stage event for September.