Inaugural U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup awarded to Japan Softball Association to be staged in Tokyo

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) awarded today the hosting rights of the inaugural U-15 Women's Softball World Cup to the Japan Softball Association (JSA). The first edition of the new World Cup will be played in Tokyo in October 2023, and will feature the world’s best players from 12 countries.

The appointment of Tokyo as host of the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup, a youth-focused event, two years on from the successful softball competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, adds to the legacy of the Tokyo Games, which saw Japan claim the gold medal beating USA in the final.

“It’s hard to find a better place for theinaugural U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup than Tokyo, Japan, where the biggeststars of our sport stood out in last year’s Olympic Games,” said WBSCSecretary General, Beng Choo Low. “With the awarding of the inaugural U-15Women’s Softball World Cup to Japan, we complete the portfolio of WBSC SoftballWorld Cup properties, offering young girls around the world the opportunity torepresent their nations from the U-12 Mixed Softball World Cup all the way up tothe World Cup and the Olympics.”

“The Baseball and Softball event of Tokyo 2020 achieved great success and our athletes inspired people around the world through their performances, which convinced us of the enormous popularity and power of baseball and softball,” said JSA Vice President and WBSC Executive Board member, Taeko Utsugi.

“The excitement we all felt at that timestill lingers in our hearts. With a strong sense of accomplishments of theGames, we would like to leverage this “Positive Legacy” to further promote oursports. Our earnest desire is that those girls who will take part in theinaugural U15 Women Softball World Cup in Tokyo will take part in LA2028 andBrisbane 2032 in their prime, creating further momentum for our Olympiccampaign.”

The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cupwill be the first youth softball global championship played in Japan, after threeWomen’s Softball World Cups were staged in 1970 (Osaka), 1998 (Fujinomiya City)and 2018 (Chiba).

The hosting rights were awarded throughthe new WBSC World Cup bidding process, with JSA’s candidacy winning the raceagainst Lima, Peru.

“I would like to thank and congratulatethe Peruvian Softball Federation for their strong candidacy and theircommitment with our sport and our properties,” added Low. “Having twocandidates for a new event verifies that the new bidding process and World Cupformats are attractive and appealing for national federations and cities aroundthe world.”

The 12 participating nations will open thetournament split into two groups of six teams. The top three of each group willadvance to the Super Round, with the top two of this stage advancing to theWorld Championship Final.

Further details of the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup dates and venues will be announced at a later stage.