The countdown begins in earnest for Gibraltar Netball towards NWYC2025

“In September 2025 the majestic Rock of Gibraltar will host the prestigious Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Gibraltar.
“As on a netball court, Gibraltar reflects a strong spirit and harmonious unity. The Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Gibraltar is about making memories and crafting a legacy for the future, after the final whistle sounds.”
This is the message netballers have this weekend seen as they browsed the official NWYC2025 website as World Netball reminded its vast community that “With just 12 months until the Netball World Youth Cup 2025, we’re getting closer to knowing the full set of competing nations.”
The names of nations that will be competing continued to increase this weekend as the NWYC2025 Qualifier Oceania took place.
The Netball World Youth Qualifiers Oceania U21 took place between 16th - 21st September 2024 at the National Sports Arena Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga competed to become the next team on the list which will head to Gibraltar next September 19th.
The tournament, which showcases the world’s top 20 teams aged 21 and under, will take place in two main competition venues in Gibraltar – The Tercentenary Sports Hall and Europa Sports Park, which was built for the 2019 Island Games.
It will be the first Netball World Youth Cup to take place since 2017, due to the cancellation of the 2022 event, planned for Fiji, because of the risk of the Covid-19 infection to participants and the local population.
Gibraltar as host will qualify automatically, making this the first time Gibraltar netball competes at any level in a World Championship.
Already preparing for next September Gibraltar’s young talents were put through their paces last week with the visit of Hertfordshire University squad. The high profile visit was the first of many expected during the next months as Gibraltar netball opens its doors to high profile teams who are willing to provide the Gibraltar team some additional international and high level competition as part of their preparations.
The Under 21 head coach Janice Moreno last week indicating that further visits are expected as Gibraltar netball looks to expand on the experience their players have on the court as they look towards competing against what are the top young talents in the sport next September.