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Aussie Steelers ranked third in the world by WBSC
Published Wed 30 Jun 2021
A total of 67 countries are still ranked in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Rankings, while 49 nations are included in the WBSC Men’s Softball World Ranking.
The WBSC announced today the updated WBSC Softball World Rankings, both for women’s and men’s national teams. The WBSC Softball World Rankings track a country’s entire National Team performance in all WBSC-sanctioned international competitions in the last four years.
Courtesy of a runner-up finish from Australia in the U-18 Men's Softball World Cup in 2020, the Aussie Steelers have been ranked third in the world.
Men’s Softball
The WBSC Men’s Softball Rankings also discounted the points from the WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Championship 2016, which were replaced by the WBSC U-18 Men’s Softball World Cup 2020, added in the calculation after the pandemic. The points from the Men’s Softball European Championship were also included in this updated rankings.
The top two nations remain unaltered, with No. 1 Japan narrowly on top of No. 2 Argentina by only six points.
New WBSC Men's Softball World Rankings! π₯π
— WBSC βΎπ₯ (@WBSC) June 29, 2021
π°https://t.co/d2kCx4r0oI #WorldRankings pic.twitter.com/gQL3URV0N6
However, No. 3 Australia entered in the podium for the first time ever, replacing a sixth place in the Junior Men’s Softball World Championship 2016 for a silver medal in 2020. The green and gold team moved two positions, passing New Zealand (now No. 4 and outside the podium for the first time) and No. 5 Canada.
The European champions, Czech Republic, gained a position in the chart and moved to sixth place, their highest ever. USA downed to seventh place.
However, the biggest winner was Guatemala, who stunned the world with a sixth-place finish in the U-18 Men’s Softball World Cup 2020 and jumped eight places in the chart, from 21nd to 13th. No. 22 Croatia gained six positions, while No. 28 Slovakia and No. 33 Sweden moved ahead seven spots after the European Championship.
In all, 49 countries are included in the WBSC Men’s Softball World Ranking.
Women’s Softball
The WBSC Women’s Softball World Rankings saw the expiration of the points given in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship 2016, where a record-setting 31 participating teams competed for the top women’s softball international prize.
USA remains the top-ranked nation in the world with 3,951 points, followed by Japan (3,768) and Canada (3,465). All three will be playing the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, along with No. 5 Mexico No. 8 Australia and No. 9 Italy, who surpassed their arch-rivals Netherlands (who lost valuable points from a fourth place performance in 2016) in the ninth place.
π₯ New WBSC Women's Softball World Rankings!
— WBSC βΎπ₯ (@WBSC) June 29, 2021
π° https://t.co/d2kCx4r0oI #WorldRankings pic.twitter.com/pPJgb3mHnV
The other change in the top 12 of the chart was Czech Republic passing Philippines in the 11th position.
Ecuador lost 349 points from their last participation in a world championship in 2016, and finished in the 64th position, losing 29 places in the ranking. The same happened to Serbia, who saw how 256 expired from 2016, leaving them in the 62nd position, 19 places below their last ranking.
A total of 67 countries are still ranked in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Rankings.