UNDERSTANDING NETBALL: Here is the competition format for the 2019 World Cup

The world’s best 16 teams will go head-to-head for netball’s ultimate prize from 12 to 21 July 2019.

And Zimbabwe is one of them so yay!

The International Netball Federation has developed a new World Cup competition format for 2019, which will see teams compete in three stages at the tournament: the Preliminaries Stage One from 12-14 July, the Preliminaries Stage Two from 15-18 July and the Play-offs and Placings matches from 19-21 July.

The competition schedule for the Preliminaries Stage One is available here. Preliminaries: Stage Two matches will be dependent on Preliminaries: Stage One results.

Preliminaries Stage One (12-14 July)

Teams will compete in four round-robin groups (A, B, C and D) which each consist of four teams.

Teams were assigned to their preliminary groups by seeding based on their world rankings. The top eight teams were pre-assigned to groups, with one team from the 9^th-12^th seeds and one from the 13^th-16^th seeds drawn randomly into each group.

The top three finishers in each group will then progress to the Preliminaries: Stage Two to compete for the title.

Preliminaries Stage Two (15-18 July)

In the second stage of the competition, the top three teams from groups A and B will form group F, and the top three teams from groups C and D will form group G. The bottom four finishers from groups A-D will compete for 13^th-16^th places in group E.

Where teams in groups F and G have already played each other in the Preliminaries Stage One (i.e. A1 has already played A2 and A3), these results will carry through to the Preliminaries Stage Two.

Play-offs and Placings (19-21 July)

Groups F and G

The teams finishing first and second in groups F and G will go through to the semi-finals, with the top placed team in each group facing the second placed team in the other group. The winners of each semi-final will compete for gold in the final, with the losers playing for bronze.

The teams finishing third and fourth in groups F and G will compete for final positions fifth to eighth – third in one group plays fourth in the other – with the winners playing off for fifth place and the losers for seventh.

The teams that finish fifth in groups F and G will play off for ninth and 10^th places.

The teams that finish last in groups F and G will play off for 11^th and 12^th places.

Group E

The top two teams from group E will play off for 13^th and 14^th place and the bottom two teams will play off for 15^th and 16^thplace.

Netball World Cup 2019 website