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Softball Tournaments

Qualifying tournaments at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be held in Canada, China, Taipei, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States

ROME, Italy-the international baseball and softball Federation (WBC) today awarded the rights to host the six qualifying tournaments for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The WBC awarded the rights to three Olympic Baseball qualifying tournaments and three Olympic Softball qualifying tournaments. China Taipei, Italy and the United States will host an Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baseball while Canada, China, and the Netherlands will host Olympic qualification tournaments in Softball.

“”The next two years — 2019 and 2020 — will be the most important in the history of baseball-softball international,”” said Riccardo Fraccari, President of the WBC. “”While the dates and venues of the Olympic qualifying tournaments have been announced, athletes, national federations, leagues and fans around the world can discover the Tokyo 2020 route and the challenge of qualifying there. Baseball and softball are among the most anticipated events at the Tokyo Games. »

The WBC Executive Committee voted to grant the rights after reviewing the candidature files at its meeting held at the headquarters of the Italian national Olympic committee (CONI).

The Baseball road to the 2020 Tokyo Games

The first Olympic baseball qualifier will be held September 18-22 in Bologna and Parma. The first five of the 2019 European Championships and the best African nation will compete for a qualifier at the Europe/Africa tournament.

The WBC First12 2019 – the world’s largest baseball event this year is expected to offer two qualifying spots for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the best nation in the Asia/Oceania area (excluding Japan) and the best nation in the Americas to validate their ticket to the six-team Olympic tournament. The WBC Executive Committee decided that if no Asia / Oceania team finished in the top six of the first 12, then the ticket to the Games would be awarded at the last qualifying tournament.

An eight-team qualification Tournament of the Americas, hosted by USA Baseball, will take place in March 2020 in Arizona. The best nation in Arizona will qualify for the Olympics.

Nations in the race:

All nations of the Americas participating in WBC First12 2019 that did not qualify for Tokyo 2020

The two best nations of the Pan American Games in Lima 2019

The final Olympic qualifying Baseball tournament will be hosted by the Federation of China Baseball Taipei in Taipei City. This Intercontinental competition will feature six teams competing for the last place in Tokyo 2020.

Nations in the race:

  • The 2nd best nation of the Europe/Africa tournament in Italy
  • The 2nd and 3rd best nations of the Americas tournament in Arizona
  • The two best nations of the 2019 Asian Championships (not counting the countries already qualified for Tokyo 2020))
  • The winner of the ocean qualifications 2019

The road to the Tokyo 2020 Games

The first Olympic qualification Softball Tournament will be held in Europe, from July 23 to 28 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The tournament organized by the Netherlands Federation of Baseball and Softball (KNBSB) brings together eight teams and will offer a place at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The competition will feature the Top six Nations of the European Championships and the top two softball teams from Africa.

The Olympic Qualification Tournament of the Americas will be hosted by Softball Canada and will take place from August 25 to September 1 in Surrey, British Columbia. The competition will feature 16 teams, with the top two teams qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The Asia / Oceania qualifying tournament will be held from September 24 to 29 in Shanghai and will be hosted by the Chinese Softball Federation. The competition will bring together eight teams-six from the Asian Games and two from Oceania — and will offer the final qualifying spot for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The United States National Women’s softball team is the first team to qualify for the Tokyo Games after its victory at the WBC Women’s World Softball Championships last year in Chiba, Japan.