ICC announces expansion of women’s cricket tournaments post 2023 cycle

The governing body shared the good news on the occasion of international women's day.

In the last five years, women’s cricket has grown by leaps and bounds and the International Cricket Council (ICC) wants to leave no stone unturned to sustain its development.

On the occasion of international women's day, the governing body on Monday (March 8) announced that the ICC tournaments for women cricketers will have more teams from 2026 onwards.

ICC said that the T20 World Cup will have 12 teams instead of 10 from the 2026 edition, while the ODI World Cup will also be expanded from 8 teams to 10 from the 2029 edition.

The 2024 edition of T20 World Cup will continue to be a 10-team event and the next two ODI World Cups will have eight teams.

"We have been building momentum around the women's game for the last four years investing in global broadcast coverage and marketing to drive fan engagement," said ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney in a statement.

"The results speak for themselves with the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 attracting record numbers, 1.1 billion video views...," he added.

86,174 fans attended the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last year.  

"This decision to expand our women's events builds on these foundations and allows us to give more member countries greater opportunities to compete on a global stage," Sawhney stated.

The Women's T20 Champions Cup, to be held from 2027 onwards, will have six teams.