Official : ICC announces major changes to ODI & T20 World Cup formats

14-team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup to include four rounds with the introduction of a ‘Super Series’ round prior to the ‘Group round’ to enhance consequence at the early stage of the tournament 20-team ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to entail re-formatted Group stage with two additional teams getting the opportunity to qualify for the Super 10 stage; additional eliminators to enhance consequence till the final stage of the tournament 16-team Global tournament proposed as the precursor to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to ensure enhanced competitive standards & a marquee competition for associate nations The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board concluded its annual meetings in Edinburgh with decisions to evolve and enhance the marquee stature of its global events. The Board, comprising three representatives from associate nations approved the recommendations it received from the Chief Executives’ Committee (comprising Chief Executives & representatives from full & associate members) related to the formats of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with the objective of creating more meaningful contests, elevating competitive standards, strengthening the competitive structure of both events, and enhancing the tournament experience for athletes and fans. The Board also approved the qualification structure for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028, providing a clear pathway to qualification through regional events and the potential institution of a marquee global competition for associate member nations. I. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup The Board approved an evolved competition format for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup that continues to feature 14 participating teams while delivering a more compelling tournament for athletes and fans. The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will see the participation of 14 eligible teams but the revised format will entail a three-stage competition leading to the Finals, which creates greater context, competitiveness and consequence during the event, ensuring meaningful competition from the opening match through to the Finals. The structure has been designed to strengthen the competitive narrative across every stage of the event, with matches from Round 1 and Round 2 carrying higher consequence with a highly competitive Super 7 stage witnessing 7 qualifying teams going through a round-robin stage to qualify for the semi-finals. The increased consequence and enhanced competitive intensity promises to enhance the overall experience for fans while continuing to provide emerging teams with the opportunity to compete on cricket’s biggest stage.

II. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup continues to be the platform for growing the broader universe of cricket’s participating nations to compete in ICC’s pinnacle events. Encouraged by the performance of emerging teams in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, the ICC has decided to increase the number of teams competing in the second stage of the tournament from 8 to 10, while maintaining the opportunity for emerging teams to qualify for that stage (2 teams continue to qualify from each group). This promises to expand the representation of cricket’s emerging nations in the Super 10 stage while also delivering higher competitive standards. The addition of ‘eliminators’ where the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams from groups in the Super 10 stage compete against each other for spots in the semi-finals also then adds significant consequence to the closing matches of the Super 10 stage.

III. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup qualification structure For the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028 qualification pathway, Scotland will enter directly into the Europe Regional Final, recognising the exceptional circumstances surrounding its participation in the 2026 tournament. The remaining teams that competed at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 but did not secure automatic qualification will advance directly to the Global Qualifier. The other eight places in the Global Qualifier will be filled through regional qualification, with two teams each qualifying from Africa, Asia and Europe, and one team each from the Americas and East Asia-Pacific regions. The highest placed team from each region at the Global Qualifier, together with the next three highest-placed teams overall, will qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028, subject to minimum performance criteria. The new marquee tournament has been endorsed by the Board after being recommended by the ICC Development and Chief Executives’ Committees. However, it will be finally approved by the Board after review by ICC’s Finance & Commercial Affairs committee in the November meetings.