Netball World Cup
The Netball World Cup explained: format, history and how it fits into the international netball calendar — durable reference, not live results.
The Netball World Cup is the sport's premier international tournament, held every four years and organised by World Netball, the sport's global governing body.
Format
The tournament brings together national teams from across World Netball's member associations, typically split into initial group stages before moving into knockout rounds to decide the final placings. The exact number of participating nations and the group structure have expanded over the tournament's history as the sport has grown internationally.
History
The first tournament was held in Eastbourne, England, in 1963. See history of the Netball World Cup for the full story of its founding and early years, including the inaugural champions.
Who competes
Qualification is organised through World Netball's regional confederations, giving nations from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania a route to qualify, alongside automatic qualification for the host nation and sometimes the previous tournament's top finishers, depending on the specific qualification cycle.
Where this page stops
This page is a durable reference to what the Netball World Cup is — its format and history — rather than a source for the current tournament's schedule, draw, or live results. For the latest dates, fixtures and results, check World Netball's official site.
Related reading
See Commonwealth Games netball for the sport's other major international multi-team tournament, and history of netball for how international competition developed alongside the sport as a whole.