The groups and participating teams for the XVIII WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup, which will take place in three stages across 2024 and 2025 is set. The final seven teams were determined after the completion of the Africa and Americas Qualifiers in March and April.
South Africa and Botswana qualified from the African Qualifier, while Argentina, Venezuela, Guatemala, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic earned their spots through the Pan American Championship. However, Botswana declined their participation, and the spot was awarded to Israel as a wild card.
The groups are as follows:
Group A (Hermosillo, Mexico, June 12-16): Australia, Czechia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Dominican Republic
Group B (Prince Albert, Canada, July 10-14): Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Israel, and Argentina
Group C (Oklahoma City, USA, September 17-21): USA, Japan, Guatemala, South Africa, Netherlands, and Colombia
The top two teams from each group, plus two wild cards, will advance to the World Championship Finals in Prince Albert in the summer of 2025. A total of 57 games will be played across the Group Stage, with each group playing a 15-game round-robin before the Play-Offs.
The last seven teams have been confirmed to participate in the XVIII WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup following the completion of the Africa and Americas Qualifiers.
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.
