The World Baseball Softball Confederation revealed the groups and schedule for the XVI WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship 2018, which will be staged in Chiba, Japan, from 2-12 August. Europe will be represented by three nations: the Netherlands, Italy, and Great Britain.

The softball global flagship competition will feature 73 games across 10 days of competition. The 30,000-seat Chiba Marine Stadium, home of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) club Chiba Lotte Marines, will host the Playoffs and Finals, while NASPA Stadium, Akitsu Stadium and ZETT A Ball Park will host the Preliminary and Consolation Rounds. 

The top nation in Chiba will claim the first of five available softball spots for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where Softball Japan is automatically qualified. “The Women’s Softball World Championship in Chiba will be an exciting and challenging 73-game top-tier global competition,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “The stakes will be extremely high with the tournament awarding one nation a ticket to be a part softball’s historic Olympic return at the Tokyo 2020 Games — this is where softball’s Road to Tokyo 2020 begins.” The 16 participating nations — representing the five Olympic continents — have been drawn into two groups.

Group A:
No. 1 United States (defending WBSC Women’s Softball World Champions)
No. 5 Chinese Taipei
No. 6 Puerto Rico
No. 7 Mexico
No. 8 Netherlands
No. 11 New Zealand
No. 15 Philippines
No. 35 South Africa

Group B:
No. 2 Japan
No. 3 Canada
No. 4 Australia
No. 9 Italy
No. 12 China
No. 14 Great Britain
No. 17 Venezuela
No. 33 Botswana.  

Japanese convenience store giant Lawson has been named the official ticketing site of the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup 2018 Chiba. Ticket sales within Japan launched today, while global sales will begin on Saturday, 19 May. To view the full schedule of the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship 2018, visit the WBSC website.

-WBSC press release-