Netball World Youth Cup lands upon the Rock

The final countdown arrives at its conclusion today as Gibraltar prepares to officially host the Netball World Youth Cup 2025.
With little doubt this will probably be one of the largest team sporting events to be hosted on the Rock this year. Whilst Gibraltar already has experience in hosting international football matches, Netball Europe Open tournaments, FIBA Basketball Division C and Small State championships, Island Games, Eurohockey Division C and even B tournaments, and a long list of other European team events it is the first time that Gibraltar hosts a World Cup, apart from the darts junior world championships, although these are based on individual performances.
Recognised as one of the major events in Netball with only the senior World Cup surpassing it, the Youth World Cup brings together the very best in youth netball from across the globe.
Twenty teams from across the world will compete in Gibraltar. Teams qualified through both previous NWYC standings and regional qualifying tournaments.Gibraltar qualified automatically as host nation and four additional teams qualified automatically based on their position at the NWYC2017:New Zealand , Australia, England, Fiji. Notably Gibraltar will be facing one of these teams having been drawn into New Zealand’s group.
The mammoth task of organising and preparing for the event has seen a local organising committee come together with their efforts now starting to see their fruits as Gibraltar welcomed the teams onto the Rock this past days.
From security, to securing that power will be available throughout the event, to catering, media facilities, preparation of venues, through to hosting the teams, marketing and promotions all is now set to see the motors running at full steam as Gibraltar prepares for the opening ceremony at 6pm this Friday. This the first official event before play starts in earnest the next morning.
There are two match courts/arenas. The main match court/arena will be in Europa Sports. Already prepared to accommodate the sport, with new flooring and all necessary facilities in place, the complex will see a total of 37 matches played including the Semi-Finals and Finals. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies will also be held in this arena.
The second match court/arena will be the Tercentenary Sports Hall where 33 matches will be played. A shuttle service provided for visiting media and players to ensure they can get from one arena to the next with ease.
Other than the already mentioned teams of New Zealand , Australia, England, Fiji and Gibraltar teams arriving in Gibraltar qualified through five regional qualifier events took place throughout 2024, with three teams from each of the World Netball Regions - Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania - qualifying to make up the remaining 15 teams contesting the NWYC.
Europe qualified teams – Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
Oceania qualified teams – Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands
Africa qualified teams – South Africa, Malawi and Zambia
Americas qualified teams – Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados
Asia qualified teams – Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka

NWYC 2025 - The format
Matches shall be 60 minutes in duration consisting of four quarters of 15 minutes. Intervals between the 1st and 2nd quarters and the 3rd and 4th quarters will be four minutes. The half-time interval (between 2nd and 3rd quarter) will be 12 minutes.
Throughout the tournament, matches will take place across two venues: Europa Sports Complex (Arena 1) and Tercentenary Sports Hall (Arena 2).
During the Round Robin Pool Play Stages, from the 20th - 24th September, a total of eight matches per day will be played across the two venues.
On day six, teams will then be re-ranked into three sections, either competing for positions 1-8, 9-16 or 17-20, depending on their results in the first four matches in round robin play.
The final four days of the competition will see a further 20 matches completed, before the Final Classification and Medal Matches begin on day eight of the competition finishing with the Grand Final on 28th September at the Europa Sports Complex.
This will be followed by the Closing Ceremony, where the NWYC2025 Champions will be crowned.
How teams were pooled
The top four teams were seeded and automatically placed into a pool each. As the host nation, Gibraltar had also automatically qualified for the tournament, their pool placement was allocated at random into Pool A.
To promote geographical diversity and a fair spread of teams, the draw was designed to ensure that teams from all World Netball Regions (Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe, and Oceania) were distributed across the pools.
The remaining 15 teams were allocated based on their positions in Regional Qualifiers.
Teams were grouped by their finishing positions in these qualifiers: 1st place from each Region (five teams), 2nd place from each Region (five teams), and 3rd place from each Region (five teams).
Each group was allocated into pools in turn, commencing with the 1st placed teams.
Teams were randomly selected and placed into pools, following a “snake” pattern until all teams were placed into a pool.

Points for the result of each Match will be awarded as follows:
2 points Win
1 point Draw
0 points Loss (or forfeit)