[1][2] The twelve invited teams were split into three groups that played a round-robin tournament.

In the case of two teams being tied on the same number of points in a group, their head-to-head result determined the higher place.

Casey Reibelt Yoshimi Yamashita Renae Coghill Gi Allyson Flynn Makoto Bozono Malko Hagio Mukansanga Salima Fatou Thioune Kabakama Jonesla Mary Njoroge Gi Bernadettar Kwimbira Fanta Kone Queency Victoire Marianela Araya Ekaterina Koroleva Kimberly Moreira Yudillia Briones Felisha Mariscal Kathryn Nesbitt Laura Fortunato Edina Alves Batista Dalana Milone Tatiane Sacilotti Leslie Vasquez Mary Cristina Blanco Sarah Jones Maria Tamalelagi Riem Hussein Sandra Braz Anastasia Pustovoitova Ekaterina Marinova Lisa Rashid Christina Biehl Ekaterina Kurochkina Kylie McMullan Rocío Puente The groups were announced on 18 November 2016,[3] All times WET (UTC±00:00).

For the group stage of this tournament, where two or more teams in a group tied on an equal number of points, the finishing positions were determined by the following tie-breaking criteria in the following order:[4]

The ranking of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th placed teams in each group to determine the placement matches:[4]