Thunder Bay awarded hosting rights for IX Women's Baseball World Cup group and final stage

Photo: Baseball Canada

December 20, 2022

Baseball Canada

OTTAWA – Baseball Canada is thrilled to share the news that the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is awarding hosting rights to Thunder Bay, Ontario for the final stage of the IX Women's Baseball World Cup.

The six-team tournament is scheduled for the summer of 2024. Baseball Canada and the Thunder Bay International Baseball Association (TBIBA) will run the Local Organising Committee (LOC).

The first stage of the IX Women's Baseball World Cup will involve 12 National Teams competing in two groups. Thunder Bay will host one of the groups in 2023 from August 8-13.

“We’re extremely excited that the community of Thunder Bay will host these two prestigious events and provide our Women’s National Team athletes with the unique opportunity to compete on home soil in front of Canadian fans,” said Baseball Canada CEO Jason Dickson. “The TBIBA has hosted first class international baseball events for over two decades and we know that they will once again deliver a quality experience for all teams, officials, volunteers and visitors to Thunder Bay.”

“The Thunder Bay International Baseball Association is delighted that WBSC has chosen Canada to host IX Women's Baseball World Cup group and final stage in Thunder Bay,” added president of TBIBA Nick Melchiorre. “We welcome the world and the global baseball community to our city and look forward to working with Baseball Canada again to make these events a fantastic experience for the teams, visitors and community as a whole.”

Seven teams have already qualified for the first stage including World No. 6 France who won the European Championship on home soil in Montpellier in August 2022.

No. 5 Venezuela, No. 7 Cuba, No. 9 Puerto Rico, and No. 12 Mexico were the top four finishers of the Americas Qualifier, played in August 2022 in Venezuela while No. 8 Australia qualified as the top-ranked nation in Oceania.

Canada, ranked No. 3 will enter the event as host nation and wild card entry.

The Continent quota for the two groups is as follows:

Americas (4)

Asia (4)

Europe (1)

Oceania (1)

Wild Cards (2)

The Asia Qualifier is scheduled for 2023, while the WBSC Executive Board will decide the second Wild Card.

The top two finishers of each group will advance to the final stage together with two Wild Cards.

Japan has won the last six editions of the Women's Baseball World Cup with the most recent event taking place in 2018 while the United States are the only other Women's Baseball World Champions (2006).

All-time, Canada has earned six medals over eight Women’s Baseball World Cup events dating back to 2004 collecting bronze in 2004, 2006, 2012 and 2018 and winning silver in 2008 and 2016.

The very first Women’s Baseball World Cup was held in Edmonton in 2004 and returned to the city again in 2012.

No stranger to hosting international baseball events, Thunder Bay hosted the Women’s Baseball Friendship Series between Canada and USA in late July and early August 2022 and the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in 2010 and 2017.