World Netball (WN) and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) have announced the first six Commonwealth Games Association’s (CGA’s) that will participate in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, South Africa, and Malawi were officially invited by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at the start of October 2021 with all six teams accepting the invitation.
A total of 12 teams will compete at the games. The host nation England and top 5 CGA’s in the WN World Rankings qualified for the event as per their ranking on the 28th of July 2021, one year prior to the start of the Commonwealth Games. The teams ranked 7-12 according to the WN World Rankings on 31st January 2022 will be invited in February 2022 to participate at the games.
World Netball President, Liz Nicholl CBE, commented: “Congratulations to the top six teams in the World Netball World Rankings on securing their place at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. World Netball will continue to work closely with the CGF and the CGA’s on the announcement of the remaining six teams. I look forward to seeing all 12 teams compete on this world stage in Birmingham next year and watching the athletes embrace this opportunity to compete at this important multi-sport event.
The Commonwealth Games provides an amazing platform for our athletes to inspire a whole new generation of netballers, as they have done in every Games since 1998.”
Commonwealth Games Federation President, Dame Louise Martin, said: “I would like to congratulate the six teams that have secured their spot at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. We are already shaping up for an exciting competition.
Netball was one of the highlights of Gold Coast 2018. That unforgettable final between Australia and England will always be remembered as one of the iconic moments in Commonwealth Games history. There is no doubt that we can expect more excitement and entertainment at Birmingham 2022, in front of passionate fans, and we look forward to working closely with World Netball to confirm the six remaining spots for this prestigious event.”
Following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, on the international netball event calendar the CGF and WN agreed in March 2021 to extend the qualification date for netball at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games to 31st January 2022. This has provided additional time for fixtures to be played before the 2022 domestic netball season begins.
During the remainder of the qualification period many Commonwealth countries will be involved in rankings matches that could secure their qualification for the Commonwealth games.
To view our full international events calendar, click here and check back regularly as this calendar is updated as new matches are announced.
Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022, Matt Kidson, encouraged the Netball Family to prepare for the general ticket sale for the event, he said: “It’s fantastic news that the first six qualifiers for the netball competition have been confirmed and we are very much looking forward to welcoming these teams to Birmingham next summer. The netball competition will be held at the NEC Arena, which is an impressive venue and through our recent ticket ballots we have already seen that this sport will once again attract thousands of passionate fans. Our tickets will go on general sale very soon and we will shortly be announcing the match schedule for netball, so I’d urge netball fans to sign up for updates now on the Birmingham 2022 website, so that they don’t miss out on what is set to be yet another incredible Commonwealth Games netball competition.”
To find out more about netball at Birmingham 2022, click here.
To find out more about netball tickets for B2022, and to set up your ticketing account, click here.
To find out more about B2022, click here.
