ICC UNVEILS GLOBAL EVENTS ROADMAP AND QUALIFICATION PATHWAYS

• Established marquee men’s event windows approved to 2035 

• Qualification formats confirmed for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028 and ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2028

• ICC Qualifiers for LA28 to take place in the USA and Bangladesh

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board has approved a series of event schedules, competition formats and qualification frameworks following its meetings in Bali, Indonesia, on Sunday. 

The decisions were made with increasing opportunities for Full and Associate Members in mind, strengthening qualification pathways and enhancing competitive standards across international cricket.

ICC CEO, Sanjog Gupta, said: “The ICC events portfolio and schedule are critical components of cricket's global architecture and deliver elevated context, competitiveness and consequence to the ecosystem. These tournaments serve as pinnacle moments for fans and players alike, with the associated pathways driving aspiration and access for the broader cricketing landscape.  

"We also recognise the importance of providing athletes and member associations long-term visibility of these events to enable development of improved player pathways, focused high-performance programmes and structured calendars."

ICC marquee men’s events schedule 

The ICC Board approved the windows for established ICC marquee men's events until 2035. The confirmed schedule runs from the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2028 in Australia and New Zealand up to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2035.

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2027 Qualifier 

The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2027, scheduled for February to March 2027, will feature 10 teams and 23 matches. The tournament will comprise two groups of five, followed by semi-finals and a final, with the top four teams qualifying for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2027. The winner will progress directly to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2027 Group Stage, while the three remaining teams will compete in the Super Series to determine the final Group Stage spot. 

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2028 Qualifier 

The 16-team Global Qualifier, scheduled to be played in Q1 of 2028, will feature a total of 31 matches, with four groups of four competing across the Group Stage, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and Final. A total of eight teams will qualify directly to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028 from the tournament. The highest-placed team from each region will qualify, subject to minimum performance criteria, with the remaining places going to the next highest-placed teams overall.

Regional representation is assessed across the full final ranking, including the semi-finalists, all four of whom will advance. The four losing quarter-finalists will be ranked from five to eight based on group position, then most points, then most wins, then highest net run-rate. The teams that finished third in each group will be ranked from nine to 12 on the same basis, and teams finishing fourth (13-16) will be ineligible for qualification.

Where a region’s highest-placed team is a semi-finalist or losing quarter-finalist, that region is already represented and no change is made. Where a region’s highest-placed team finished third in its group (nine to 12), it qualifies in place of the lowest-ranked team from five to eight that is not itself the highest-placed team from its region. This continues until every eligible region is represented, with any remaining places going to the remaining highest-placed losing quarter-finalists.

ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2028 Qualifier 

With the qualification framework for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2028 approved in May 2026, regional allocations for the Global Qualifier have now been confirmed.  

Netherlands and Scotland, having participated in the 2026 tournament without securing automatic qualification for 2028, will be joined at the Global Qualifier by eight teams from regional qualifying. Those eight teams will advance through five regional qualification events scheduled for 2027, with two spots each up for grabs across Africa, Asia and the East Asia-Pacific, and one more from both the Americas and Europe. The top two teams from the Global Qualifier will secure the final places at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2028. 

ICC Qualifiers for LA28

Host nations and dates have been confirmed for the final qualification events for the Olympic Games at LA28. The ICC Men's Qualifier for LA28 will take place from 5-13 February 2028 in Bangladesh, prior to the ICC Women’s Qualifier, which will run from 26 February to 5 March 2028 in the USA.

The events constitute the final stage of the qualification pathway for cricket's return to the Olympic programme at LA28. They will each feature eight teams - spread across two groups of four - and 13 matches. Each team will play the other teams in their group once, with the group winners progressing to the final. The winners of the final will secure the final qualification berth for the LA28 Olympic Games.