Caronno Pertusella and Legnano: Meet the WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup host cities

The Lombardy Region, Italy, will host the WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup 2025 in Caronno Pertusella and Legnano.

Lombardy is one of the Italian regions with the most women's softball activity, including the two host clubs.

Caronno, who was founded in 1968, placed fifth in the Italian Softball League 2024 regular season after being the 2023 Italian Softball Series runner-up. They won the Italian Cup (2007, 2010) and the U-13 National Championship (2016, 2019).

The Legnano Baseball and Softball Club began its baseball activities in 1950 and added softball in 1964, winning the Italian Softball League pennant and the European Cup Winners Cup in 2007, as well as the European Premier Cup in 2008. They are currently competing in the second division of the Italian Softball League.

The two cities are separated by 17 kilometres (or 10.6 miles).

Caronno Pertusella is an 18,000-people city in the Varese Province. Callaonum (Caronno) was an exhange station on the road connecting Mediolanum (Milan) with Luganum (today the Swiss city Lugano) in the Roman era. After the merge with Cassina Pertusella in 1863, the city was named Caronno Pertusella

The Federico Nespoli Stadium, named after the club's first president and located on Via Gioacchino Rossini, hosted the Women's Softball European Championship in 2003 and 2017, as well as the European Cup Winners' Cup in 2006 and 2023.

In 2010, the Nespoli Stadium hosted what was, at the time, the longest softball game in history. The record saw 54 athletes representing nine countries take the field for 120 hours. A metro nonprofit in Atlanta, USA, broke the record in 2024.

Since 1980, Caronno hosts the Città di Caronno Tournament, the oldest women's softball tournament in Europe.

Legnano has over 60,000 inhabitants. The city is part of Milan's Metropolitan Area and is about 28 kilometres northwest of Milan's city centre.

Legnano was founded in the first millennium before Christ, but found its space in history thanks to the Battle of Legnano. On May 29, 1176, an alliance led by the northern city-states of Milan, Lodi, Ferrara, Piacenza, and Parma, known as the Lombardy League, defeated Frederick I, also known as Barbarossa (meaning "Red Beard"), the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and halted his expansion. Since 1935, Legnano has celebrated the event with its Palio on the last Sunday of May.

The best-known symbol of medieval Legnano is its castle (Castello Visconteo or St. George; see cover picture).

Legnano will host the WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup 2025 at the Peppino Colombo Sports Centre, a baseball/softball facility on Cesare Battisti St. The Colombo Stadium hosted the European Premiere Cup in 2023.

Caronno Pertusella and Legnano will host the II WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup from June 27 to July 5.

The WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup is a 12-team event played under the standard WBSC World Cup format. It has a two-group Opening Round, and the top three finishers of each group compete in the Super Round to reach the medal round. The teams placed fourth to sixth in each group will compete in the Placement Round. The World Championship Final on Saturday, July 5, will be game No. 50.

• Group A: World No. 2 Japan, No. 3 Puerto Rico, No. 7 Italy, No. 9 Mexico, No. 13 Spain, No. 64 American Samoa.
• Group B: No. 1 USA, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 6 Canada, No. 8 Czechia, No. 10 Australia, No. 39 Singapore.