CAPE TOWN: Ten teams have secured direct qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
South Africa and Zimbabwe qualified automatically as Full Member hosts, while India, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, Afghanistan and Bangladesh secured the remaining eight direct berths based on their ICC ODI Team Rankings at the September 30, 2026 cut-off.
Namibia, the third co-host, will have to qualify through the standard pathway as it is not an ICC Full Member.
Two-time champions West Indies, who finished outside the automatic qualification places, will have to compete in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier along with Ireland and other teams.
The 10-team Qualifier is scheduled to be held in Namibia and South Africa in February and March 2027. The winner will qualify directly for the World Cup group stage, while the teams finishing second, third and fourth will advance to a three-team Super Series.
The 2027 World Cup will feature 14 teams and use a new three-stage format before the semi-finals.
In the first round, the Super Series, the three lowest-ranked qualifiers will play a three-match round-robin tournament in Windhoek, with only the winner advancing to the group stage.
The second round will feature 12 teams divided into two groups of six. Each team will play the other five sides in its group once, producing 30 matches.
The top three teams from each group, along with the better fourth-placed team across the two groups, will advance to the Super 7 stage.
Group A: India, Australia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Qualifier A
Group B: New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh and Qualifier B
The Super 7 will consist of a seven-team round-robin, with 21 matches. All seven teams will start the stage with a clean slate.
The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals, where the first-placed side will face the fourth-placed team and the second-placed side will meet the third-placed team.
The final is scheduled to be played in Johannesburg on November 21, 2027.
ALSO READ
PCB names Sahibzada Farhan T20 captain, Shaheen Afridi to lead in ODIs
For scheduling purposes, the ICC has pre-seeded seven teams into Super 7 positions: India (A1), Australia (A2), Pakistan (A3), England (AB4), New Zealand (B1), South Africa (B2) and Sri Lanka (B3). These positions may change according to the group-stage results.
The ICC released the full fixture list on October 1, 2026. The group stage is scheduled to begin on October 7 in Cape Town, with defending champions Australia taking on India in a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final.
India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet in Johannesburg on October 10.
