Great Britain Women’s Fastpitch & Great Britain Baseball National Teams Awarded £1 Million In Funding For LA 2028 Olympic Cycle
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – UK Sport has announced funding awards for the Great Britain Women’s Fastpitch Softball and Great Britain Baseball National Teams as part of the overall funding settlement for the LA 2028 Olympic Games. The teams will receive a combined £1 million over the next four years.
This funding is part of UK Sport’s record £330 million award for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games cycle, using Government and National Lottery funding. 52 different sports and disciplines, including baseball/softball, are being funded. The investments announced today will enable the UK’s Olympic and Paralympic sports and athletes to continue to deliver inspiration and impact for people and communities right across the UK.
The funding award marks the return of baseball and softball to the Olympic programme for the first time since the Tokyo 2020 games and is the largest funding award in British baseball/softball history.
Great Britain Women’s Softball is currently the 11th-ranked team in the WBSC/KONAMI World Rankings, while Great Britain Baseball is ranked 18th. Both Senior teams are the reigning European Silver Medalists in their respective discipline and will play in the 2025 European Championships in September 2025. The two teams were honoured as part of the 2023 UK Sport PLx Awards as a finalist for the Collaboration and Teamwork Award.
Today’s announcement would not be possible without the achievements and support of the two Olympic Head Coaches, Drew Spencer for Baseball and Tara Henry for Softball, and both the Federations and BaseballSoftballUK would like to thank them for their continued contributions and dedication to the programme.
Comment
BSUK Performance Director, Gary Anderson, said, “We are incredibly grateful for the support we receive from UK Sport and Sport England. The LA2028 investment assessment process has been a rigorous in-depth analysis of our plans and the resulting awards for the LA2028 cycle enables us to take the next step forward and is a testament to the results achieved during the last three years.”
“We have made significant progress in the last cycle, our trajectory has been exceptional, and we have some excellent individuals in our programs,” Anderson continued. “The regular reviews that now form an integral part of our investment agreements ensure that we can monitor and benchmark our progress against our agreed performance objectives.”
“In 2025, we will have an opportunity to demonstrate further our progress with both baseball and softball competing in their respective Senior European Championships. The performance management groups will now begin the exciting process of planning the optimal programme for the next 4 years in our campaign plan for the 2028 Olympic Games.”
Dr Kate Baker, Director of Performance and People, UK Sport, said: “Following the spectacular performances of Team GB and ParalympicsGB in Paris this summer, it’s so important for us to be able to keep the momentum going as we head into the LA cycle. This is our greatest investment to date, with more sports set to embark on an Olympic and Paralympic campaign with us than ever before.
“I’m excited to work with the new sports receiving investment from us for the first time (Flag Football, Lacrosse, Para Climbing and Squash), as well as Baseball/Softball who received National Squads funding in the Paris cycle, and warmly welcome them to our Olympic and Paralympic community.”
Lesley Morisetti, President of the British Softball Federation, added, " We are very appreciative to UK Sport and Sport England for their continued support of the Great Britain Women's Softball Programme. With the LA2028 Olympic Games close, this unprecedented funding will open up an incredible range of opportunities. Thank you to all involved at UK Sport and Sport England for this amazing show of support to the Great Britain Softball and Baseball Programmes."
New British Baseball Federation President Richard Evans commented, “This very generous support from UK Sport and Sport England will allow us to build on the on-field success of the past few years and give us the best possible chance to qualify for the LA Olympics in 2028. It is also a reflection of the commitment and hard work put in by the Performance Management Team and all the coaches, players and support staff within GB Baseball.”
John Boyd, CEO of BaseballSoftballUK, added, “This investment is a huge vote of confidence in our aspirations of qualifying for the LA 2028 Olympics. Our focus now lifts to 2028, and we are excited to capitalise on the opportunity presented by this to enhance the development of the sports across the UK."
More details about the 2025 competition season and plans for LA 2028 will be announced in due course.
