U-15 Women's Softball World Cup



The U-15 Women's Softball World Cup is an international youth women's softball tournament, organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and held every four years. The 2023 U-15 Women's Softball World Cup was the first edition of the U-15 Women's Softball World Cup, held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 21 to 29, and featured 12 national teams from five continents.

The United States became the first world champion in the category, defeating the Puerto Rican team 3–0 in the inaugural final.

History
The presentation of the new tournament occurred on February 26, 2021, when the WBSC announced its Schedule for the Softball World Cups for the next nine years in the 2021-2029 competition period.

On June 9, 2022, the World Baseball Softball Confederation awarded hosting rights for the inaugural U-15 Women's Softball World Cup to the Japan Softball Association (JSA) following its Executive Board meeting. The first edition of the new World Cup would be played in Tokyo in October 2023 with the best players in the world from 12 countries. The JSA candidacy won the race against Lima, Peru.

The naming of Tokyo as the host of the WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup, a youth-focused event, two years after the successful softball competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics, adds to the legacy of the Tokyo Games, which saw Japan claim the gold medal beating the United States in the final.

With the debut of this competition, the WBSC Softball World Cup portfolio of properties is completed, offering young girls from around the world the opportunity to represent their nations at the U-12 Softball World Cup. the road to the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

The United States prevailed 3–0 in the unprecedented showdown with Puerto Rico in the final of the inaugural U-15 Women's Softball World Cup at Ota Stadium in Tokyo. The United States now holds all of the women's softball World Championship titles, namely the WBSC U-15, U-18 and Senior crowns. Earlier in the day, Japan beat Chinese Taipei to claim the bronze medal.

The second edition is scheduled to be held in 2027, at a venue to be defined.

Competition format
The tournament is agreed to hold a round robin Opening Round, where the participating teams will be divided into two groups, and they will all play against all the rivals in the group in a round.

After the Opening Round, the top three teams in each group will play in the Super Round. All six teams will enter the Super Round maintaining their respective Opening Round head-to-head records. The first and second place teams in the Super Round will play in the World Cup Final and the third and fourth place teams will play in the bronze medal game.

Likewise, the last three teams in each group of the Opening Round will go to the Qualification Round to define the positions from seventh to twelfth place. The same methodology will be applied as in the Super Round.

Classification
With the approved format of 12 national teams, the WBSC has distributed the continental quotas as follows:


 * WBSC Africa: 1 spot
 * WBSC Americas: 4 spots
 * WBSC Asia: 3 spots
 * WBSC Europe: 2 spots
 * WBSC Oceania: 1 spot
 * Wild card: 1 spot

The participants will be determined through the continental championships.

Participating nations

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 * {{legend | 1=silver | 2= — Runner-up | outline=grey | text= 2nd }}
 * {{legend | 1=#cc9966 | 2= — Third place | outline=grey | text= 3rd }}
 * {{legend | 1= | 2= — Host nation | border=3px solid red | text=}}