Four countries will make their WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup debut this year ©WBSC

Four countries will make their debut when the 2020 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women's Baseball World Cup takes place in Monterrey in September, it has been confirmed.

Hosts Mexico, China, France and the Philippines, all of whom are unranked, will join Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, six-time champions Japan, The Netherlands, the United States and Venezuela in the ninth edition of the biennial tournament from September 11 to 20.

It will be the third successive edition to feature 12 teams.

France were the first national team to qualify for the event after beating The Netherlands in the final of the inaugural Women's European Baseball Championship on home turf in Rouen last August.

Lahcène Benhamida was recently named as the country's women's national team manager.

The Netherlands, ranked 11th in the world, will participate in the Women's Baseball World Cup thanks to a wildcard from the WBSC Executive Board.

This year will mark the first time two European national teams have competed in the tournament.

Mexico qualified in August after they finished fourth when hosting the first-ever Pan-American Women's Baseball Championship in Aguascalientes.

Despite losing three games, Mexico had the two best pitchers in Rosa María del Castillo and Flor Elena Valerio.

The US, ranked fourth in the world, won the tournament with an undefeated record thanks to a dominant offence, led by Alex Rizzo.

Venezuela, ranked fifth in the world, finished second and Canada, ranked second in the world, finished third in the Pan American Baseball Confederation event.

Cuba will be the fifth representative from the Americas in the Women’s Baseball World Cup after receiving the second wildcard.

The Philippines defeated hosts China to finish third at the Women's Baseball Asian Cup in Zhongshan in November.

The top four national teams qualified through the Baseball Federation of Asia event, with world number one-ranked Japan winning the tournament without losing a game and world number three-ranked Chinese Taipei finishing runners-up.

Japan have dominated the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup since 2008 and have now won six editions in a row.

The US won the first two editions in 2004 and 2006, with Japan finishing second.

The other silver medals have gone to Canada in 2008 and 2016, Australia in 2010, the US in 2012 and 2014, and Chinese Taipei in 2018.

Canada have also earned bronze medals in 2004, 2006, 2012 and 2018, while the other third-place finishers were the US in 2008 and 2010, Australia in 2014 and Venezuela in 2016.