Australia are the defending ICC CWC champions, while India are the defending ICC T20 WC champions.
At the Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh, the International Cricket Council (ICC) agreed changes to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2027 and ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2028 formats.
The Chief Executives' Committee, which is made up of chief executives and representatives from full and associate members, made recommendations regarding the formats of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, which were approved by the ICC Board, which consists of three representatives from associate nations.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 format:
South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia will co-host the 2027 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, which will still have 14 teams and a new three-stage format that culminates in the Finals.
Round one will see a round-robin Super Series being played between the bottom three placed sides of the 14 qualified teams, and the winner of the same will progress to the next round.
The second round will see the remainder of the 12 teams getting split into two groups of six each and playing in a round-robin format. The top three teams from each group, along with the next best-placed team in both groups, will proceed to the Super 7 stage.
The third round will be called the Super 7 and will feature a round-robin format for the seven teams, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals. The team finishing first will face the fourth-placed side, while the second and third-placed teams will meet in the other semi-final.
ICC T20 World Cup 2028 format:
Australia and New Zealand will co-host the 2028 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, which will remain a 20-team competition. The tournament's revamped format promises to improve the representation of up-and-coming clubs in the Super 10 stage by increasing the number of teams in the competition's second stage.
The Super 10 stage will have 20 matches and will see two groups of five playing a round-robin format. The winners of each Super 10 group will qualify directly for the semi-finals.
The ICC has now introduced the Eliminators, in which the second-place teams from each Super 10 group will play the third-place teams from the other group in a new Eliminators round to determine the final two semi-final slots.
The semi-finals and final will proceed according to the current format, with the winners of those eliminators completing the semi-final lineup.
The ICC also revealed the pathway for the ICC T20 World Cup 2028 tournament. Twelve teams have already qualified for the 2028 tournament based on their performance in the 2026 T20 World Cup and team rankings: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe.
A 16-team Global Qualifier competition will be used to fill the final eight spots in the 2028 T20 World Cup.
Eight teams that participated in the 2026 edition but were not automatically qualified will go straight to the 16-team Global Qualifier. These include the United States, Canada, Italy, Namibia, Nepal, the Netherlands, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
Due to extraordinary circumstances surrounding their participation in 2026, Scotland is directly qualified for the Europe Regional Final rather than the global qualifier.
The remaining eight spots in the Global Qualifier will be filled via regional qualifiers.
• Africa – 2 spots
• Asia – 2 spots
• Europe – 2 spots
• Americas – 1 spot
• East Asia Pacific – 1 spot
The highest-placed team from each area at the Global Qualifier, along with the next three highest-placed teams overall, will advance to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2028, subject to a minimum performance requirement.
(ICC inputs)