WBSC/KONAMI Women's Softball World Ranking: Netherlands makes top-five for the first time ever

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) revealed the latest update of the WBSC/KONAMI Women's Softball World Ranking. The Netherlands programme became No. 5 in the world, reaching its highest position ever. 

This update of the WBSC/KONAMI Women's Softball World Ranking includes the three groups of the WBSC U-18 Women's Softball World Cup, the European Championship, the U-15 European Championship and a few international friendly games, allowing most of the European nations to jump ahead in the ranking.

There were no changes in the top four, with USA still comfortably leading the ranking with 5,106 points, followed by No. 2 Japan (3,965), No. 3 Puerto Rico (3,441), and No. 4 Chinese Taipei (2,800).

The Netherlands continued their rise in the last 15 months, moving ahead one spot and replacing Canada as No. 5 in the world. Since April 2023, the orange squad has moved from 10th to fifth place, making the top-five for the first time ever. 

Czechia also moved up in the top-10, from 10th to eighth, with their second place finish at the WBSC U-18 Women's Softball World Cup, the title at the U-15 European Championship and fourth place in the senior continental event. They have 2,174 points.

As a result of the movement by the Netherlands and Czechia, No. 6 Canada, No. 9 Mexico, and No. 10 Australia have each lost one place in the top 10.

The biggest climber is Sweden, winning 19 places in the chart after finishing 13th in the European Championship; while Switzerland, 14th in the continental event, gained 10 places.

With the end of the year fast approaching, the fight for one of the six spots at The World Games Chengdu 2025 is intensifying. The top six teams in the WBSC/KONAMI Women's Softball World Ranking as of 31 December 2024 will secure their place in the tournament. So far, Canada is holding the sixth spot with 2,685 points, followed by Italy (2,505) and Czechia (2,174).

The WBSC/KONAMI World Rankings includes all tournaments for each discipline over a four-year time cycle. See the methodology for women's softball world ranking here.