ICC approves qualification process for 2026 Men's T20 World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) gave its approval to the qualification process for the 2026 Men's T20 Cricket World Cup on March 15. During its recent executive board meeting held in Dubai, the global cricket governing body confirmed the teams and outlined the process for teams to qualify for the mega event.

Scheduled to take place in February and March, the 2026 tournament will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Previously, Sri Lanka hosted the tournament in 2012, while India did so in 2016.

The T20 World Cup 2026 will feature a total of 20 teams and compete across 55 matches, mirroring the format of the upcoming 2024 edition set to commence in the United States and the West Indies, starting on June 2. Among these 20 teams, 12, including co-hosts India and Sri Lanka, will secure automatic qualification. Additionally, the top eight teams from the T20 World Cup 2024 will enjoy automatic qualification and the remaining berths will be filled by the next highest-ranked teams. Meanwhile, the last eight slots will be decided through regional qualifiers. 

Also read: T20 World Cup 2024: ICC announces reserve days for knockout matches

"The ICC Board also approved the qualification process for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. The event, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka, will see 12 automatic qualifiers. These will include the joint hosts along with the top eight teams from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 with the remaining spots (between 2-4 depending on host finishing positions) to be filled from the next highest-ranked teams on the ICC Men’s T20I rankings table as at 30 June 2024. The remaining eight teams will be identified through Regional Qualifiers," the ICC media release read.

Also read: It's not possible to be without Virat Kohli at the T20 World Cup: Kris Srikkanth

ICC T20 World Cup 2026 qualification spots:

• Hosts - 2 teams (India and Sri Lanka)
• Top 8 teams from T20 World Cup 2024 edition
• Two highest-ranked ICC T20 teams after above ten sides
• Europe Qualifiers - 2 teams
• Asia Qualifiers - 2 teams
• Africa Qualifiers - 2 teams
• East Asia-Pacific Qualifier - 1 team
• Americas Qualifier - 1 team