The Netball World Cup is heading to Sydney in 2027, and with exactly one year to go, the countdown is officially on.
Next year’s tournament will bring a new format and a one-venue setup, giving fans plenty to look forward to before the world’s best netball nations meet in Sydney next August.
But with qualifications still to be decided, there is also plenty that remains unknown.
Sydney awaits
The 17th edition of the Netball World Cup will take place in Sydney from 25 August to 5 September 2027, with 16 nations competing across 12 days in 64 matches.
All 64 matches will be played at one venue in a bid to create a more immersive experience for both players and supporters.
The tournament will be at Qudos Bank Arena, situated within Sydney Olympic Park. A venue that hosted the 2015 final, which saw Australia secure an eleventh title with a 58-55 scoreline against Cross-Tasman rivals New Zealand in front of a record crowd of 16,752.
Embed from Getty ImagesA new World Cup format
Sydney 2027 will look different from previous editions of the tournament.
For the first time, the Netball World Cup will use a Cup and Plate format, meaning all 16 teams will remain involved throughout the tournament.
The competition will be played across three phases, with every team playing throughout.
The initial seeding process will remain the same, with seeding determined by the World Ranking positions of all qualified teams as of 1st December 2026. When placing teams into their initial pools, equitable seeding distribution of the top eight seeds will be applied; the top eight seeded teams will be allocated as follows:
- Pool A – 1st and 5th
- Pool B – 2nd and 6th
- Pool C – 3rd and 7th
- Pool D – 4th and 8th
The teams seeded 9-12 and 13-16 will be drawn randomly to complete the four teams in each pool.
The Pool Stage (Phase one)
There will still be four pools, made up of four teams. Each team will be playing three matches against the other teams in their pool.
One change is that as teams move forward, there are no longer any results carried into the next phase of the competition.
The Cup and Plate (Phases two & three)
The teams that finish first and second from each pool in phase one will qualify to compete for the Cup, whilst third and fourth in each pool will qualify to compete for the Plate.
In each competition, during phase two, two new pools of four teams will play in another round-robin format, with each team playing three matches.
Following on from this, for both the Cup and Plate, in the third and final phase of the competition, each team will have a respective cross-over semi-final, followed by a final placing or classification match. During this phase, all matches will play to a result, with no drawn games permitted.
All teams will finish the competition with a final position from 1 to 16.
The team finishing 1st will be crowned Netball World Cup champions, while the team finishing 9th will be the Plate winner.
The full tournament draw is expected to take place in December 2026, with teams seeded according to the World Netball Rankings as of 1 December 2026. The complete match schedule will follow once the draw and qualification process are finalised.
Who will be in Sydney?
At the moment, six nations have already secured their invitations to the tournament based on the World Netball Rankings as of 1 December 2025, with Australia also qualifying automatically as the host nation:
Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, England, South Africa, and Uganda
That leaves 10 places still to be filled through five regional qualifiers, with two teams from each region earning an invitation to Sydney.
The first of those qualifiers has already taken place:
The Asian qualifier was held in Hong Kong from 8–15 August, with six teams competing for two World Cup places.
Singapore ultimately won the tournament, defeating Hong Kong 57–33 in the final, with both nations securing their invitations to Sydney.
That means eight of the 16 places are now accounted for.
What’s next?
September will be a busy month for the remaining nations hoping to reach Sydney.
The Oceania Regional Qualifier will take place in Tonga from 14–18 September, followed by the African Regional Qualifier in Kenya from 19–26 September.
Europe will then have its opportunity, with the European Regional Qualifier taking place in Scotland from 25–27 September.
The final two places will be decided in the Americas, with the regional qualifier scheduled to take place in Barbados from 19–26 October.
For nations still fighting for qualification, the next few months could therefore define their entire international campaign.
By the end of October, the 16-team line-up for Sydney will be complete.
Leave a Reply