ICC makes major format changes for ODI World Cup 2027 and T20 World Cup 2028

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced major changes to the formats of its next two men’s global tournaments after the proposals were ratified at the Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh. The new structures aim to make every phase of the tournaments more competitive and give fans and teams more meaningful matches throughout the events.

The ICC Board accepted the recommendations put forward by the Chief Executives’ Committee, with the governing body stating that the changes are designed to improve the overall tournament experience, raise the standard of competition and strengthen the structure of both events.

ODI World Cup 2027 to feature a new three-stage format

The 2027 ICC Men’s ODI World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, will continue to feature 14 teams. However, the tournament will now follow a completely new three-stage format before the knockout rounds.

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In the opening stage, the bottom three-ranked qualified teams will compete in a round-robin Super Series. Only the winner of this mini-league will progress, while the other two teams will be eliminated before the main tournament begins.

BREAKING: ICC announces ODI World Cup 2027 format with major qualification changes

Two groups, followed by Super 7

The remaining 12 teams will then be divided into two groups of six, with each side playing every other team in its group. This stage will consist of 30 matches.

The top three teams from each group, along with the best fourth-placed team across both groups, will qualify for the newly introduced Super 7 stage.

The Super 7 will feature seven teams playing another round-robin competition across 21 matches. At the end of this phase, the top four teams will advance to the semi-finals. The table-toppers will face the fourth-placed side, while the second and third-ranked teams will meet in the other semi-final before the winners contest the final.

T20 World Cup 2028 format also revamped

The ICC has also approved changes to the format of the 2028 Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The tournament will continue to feature 20 teams but will now have a different pathway to the knockout stage.

Instead of four groups of five used in the 2026 edition, the teams will now be divided into five groups of four during the opening round. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 10 stage.

The Super 10 will consist of two groups of five teams playing in a round-robin format. The winner of each group will qualify directly for the semi-finals.

New Eliminator round introduced

A new Eliminator stage has also been added to decide the remaining two semi-finalists. The second-placed team from one Super 10 group will face the third-placed team from the other group, with the winners progressing to the last four. The semi-finals and final will continue under the existing format.

Qualification pathway for T20 World Cup confirmed

Twelve teams have already secured direct qualification for the 2028 T20 World Cup based on their performances in the 2026 edition and ICC rankings. Those teams are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

The remaining eight places will be decided through a 16-team Global Qualifier. Canada, Italy, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, United Arab Emirates and the United States have already booked places in that event, while Scotland will enter directly into the Europe Regional Final under a special provision.

The other eight Global Qualifier spots will come through regional qualifiers from Africa (2), Asia (2), Europe (2), Americas (1) and East Asia-Pacific (1). The top team from each region, along with the next three best-performing sides overall, will qualify for the 2028 T20 World Cup, subject to meeting the ICC’s minimum performance criteria.

The ICC also confirmed that a proposed new marquee tournament has received initial approval from the Board and will undergo a final review by the Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee before a final decision is taken during the November meetings.