The 2020 WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup has been postponed till 2021. This was announced by WBSC – World Baseball Softball Confederation, together with the Peruvian Softball Federation and the Peruvian Sports Institute.
The first edition of the U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup would replace the former U-19 Women’s Softball World Championship, which dates back to 1981.
The 2020 edition was originally set to take place from 23th-30th August in Lima, Peru, but was postponed in April to unconfirmed dates later in the year due to the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 16 teams qualified are as follows:
- Africa (1): No. 26 South Africa
- Americas (5): No. 1 USA, No. 3 Canada, No. 4 Puerto Rico, No. 5 Mexico and No. 19 Peru (host)
- Asia (3): No. 2 Japan, No. 6 Chinese Taipei and No. 7 China
- Europe (3): No. 9 Netherlands, No. 10 Italy and No. 12 Czech Republic
- Oceania (2): No. 8 Australia and No. 16 New Zealand
- Wild Cards (2): No. 11 Philippines, No. 48 Colombia
WBSC has made a one-time exception to expand the eligibility age at both ends, allowing all players that would have been eligible to participate in 2020 to represent their country in the 2021 tournament. The decision also allows the possibility of those turning age 14 in 2021 to be included in the roster. Accordingly, those players born in 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002 will be eligible to participate in the 2021 U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup.
The WBSC and the LOC will continue monitoring the latest developments concerning the coronavirus and will confirm new dates for the postponed event at a later stage.
The WBSC is also continuing to monitor the global COVID-19 situation in relation to its two remaining tournaments on the 2020 WBSC events calendar – the U-15 Baseball World Cup and Women’s Baseball Cup in Mexico – which last month confirmed their tournament dates from 30th October to 8th November and from 12th-21st November respectively.
