The 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the tenth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Sri Lanka Cricket from 7 February to 8 March 2026. Sri Lanka had previously hosted the competition in 2012 and India in 2016. The qualification process for the 2026 tournament included two stages: 12 teams were awarded direct qualification while 87 teams took part in the regional qualification to compete for the remaining 8 spots. The regional qualification included a series of sub-regional qualifiers and regional finals held between June 2024 and October 2025.
India and Sri Lanka, the host teams, along with the top seven teams from the 2024 tournament – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, the United States and the West Indies – directly qualified for the 2026 tournament. The remaining three direct qualification places were allocated to the next best-ranked teams in the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings as on 30 June 2024 that had not finished in the top seven: Ireland, New Zealand and Pakistan. The eight remaining places were filled through the ICC's regional qualifiers: Canada from the Americas; Italy and Netherlands from Europe; Namibia and Zimbabwe from Africa; and Nepal, Oman and the United Arab Emirates from the combined Asia–EAP final. Italy qualified for the men's T20 World Cup for the first time. Ahead of the tournament itself, Bangladesh withdrew from the tournament and were replaced by the next best ranked team in the T20I Rankings: Scotland.
Format The top eight teams from the previous edition, along with the 2026 hosts and the next best two to four teams (depending on the finishing positions of the hosts in the previous edition) from the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings, qualified directly for the tournament. The remaining eight teams were decided by regional qualifiers. Each regional qualifier was held in two stages: Sub-regional qualifiers: This stage comprised one or more tournaments depending on the ICC region. Matches were held in either single round-robin or double round-robin formats and sometimes included group stages and knockout stages or playoff formats as well. The stipulated number of teams advanced into the next stage. Regional final: Top teams unable to earn direct qualification along with teams advancing from the sub-regional qualifiers took part in this stage. Matches were held in either single round-robin or double round-robin formats and sometimes included group stages and knockout stages or playoff formats as well. The stipulated number of teams advanced to the 2026 T20 World Cup.
+ Summary of the qualification process ICC region Slots per region No. of directly qualified teams Remaining slots Regional qualifiers No. of participants Start date End date Africa 3 1 2 20 21 September 2024 4 October 2025 Americas 3 2 1 10 6 December 2024 22 June 2025 AsiaEast Asia-Pacific 8(9) 3(4)2 3 169 30 August 202417 August 2024 17 October 2025 Europe 6(5) 4(3) 2 32 9 June 2024 11 July 2025 Total 20 12 8 87
Qualified teams
+ Details of the teams qualified for the T20 World Cup Team Method of qualification Date of qualification Venue(s) Number of teams Total times qualified Last time qualified Previous best performance Hosts rowspan="2" 2 10 2024 10 2024 2024 Men's T20 World Cup(Top teams from the previous tournament, excluding hosts) 6(7) 8 2024 10 2024 9 2024 10 2024 10 2024 2 2024 10 2024 ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings rowspan="3" 3 9 2024 10 2024 10 2024 Americas Qualifier 1 2 2024 Europe Qualifier 2 1 — 7 2024 Africa Qualifier 2 4 2024 7 2022 Asia–EAP Qualifier 3 3 2024 4 2024 3 2022 ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings(Replacement for Bangladesh) 1 7 2024 Total 20
Africa qualifier The qualification stages were as follows: Qualifier A: Six teams played in round-robin format for 15 matches from 21 to 26 September 2024 in Tanzania. Qualifier B: Six teams played in round-robin format for 15 matches from 19 to 24 October 2024 in Kenya. Qualifier C: Six teams played in round-robin format for 15 matches from 23 to 28 November 2024 in Nigeria. Regional final: Eight teams divided into two groups of four played in round-robin format followed by playoffs for a total of 20 matches from 26 September to 4 October 2025 in Zimbabwe.
Africa sub-regional qualifiers The sub-regional qualifiers were hosted by the Tanzania Cricket Association, Cricket Kenya and the Nigeria Cricket Federation. The top two sides of each sub-regional qualifier (Malawi and Tanzania from qualifier A, Kenya and Zimbabwe from qualifier B and Botswana and Nigeria from qualifier C) advanced to the regional final.
Africa qualifier A
Africa qualifier B
Africa qualifier C
Africa regional final
Namibia and Uganda directly qualified for the regional final after receiving a bye due to their participation in the 2024 T20 World Cup. The regional final was hosted by the Zimbabwe Cricket. The top two sides of the regional final (Namibia and Zimbabwe) qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Group stage
Knockout stage Namibia defeated Tanzania by 63 runs in the first semi-final. Zimbabwe defeated Kenya by 7 wickets in the second semi-final. Zimbabwe defeated Namibia by 7 wickets in the final.
Americas qualifier The qualification stages were as follows: Sub-regional qualifier: Nine teams played in round-robin format for 36 matches from 6 to 16 December 2024 in Argentina. Regional final: Four teams played in double round-robin format for 12 matches from 15 to 22 June 2025 in Canada.
Americas sub-regional qualifier
The sub-regional qualifier was hosted by the Argentine Cricket Association. The top three sides of the sub-regional qualifier (Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands) advanced to the regional final.
Americas regional final
Canada directly qualified for the regional final after receiving a bye due to their participation in the 2024 T20 World Cup. The regional final was hosted by Cricket Canada. The winners of the regional final (Canada) qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Asia–East Asia-Pacific qualifier The qualification stages were as follows: Asia qualifier A: Seven teams played in round-robin format for 21 matches from 30 August to 9 September 2024 in Malaysia. Asia qualifier B: Seven teams played in round-robin format for 21 matches from 19 to 28 November 2024 in Qatar. EAP qualifier A: Four teams played in double round-robin format for 12 matches from 17 to 24 August 2024 in Samoa. EAP qualifier B: Four teams played in double round-robin format for 12 matches from 28 September to 5 October 2024 in South Korea. Combined regional final: Nine teams divided into three groups of three played in round-robin format followed by a six team round-robin for a total of 21 matches from 1 to 17 October 2025 in Oman.
Asia sub-regional qualifiers The sub-regional qualifiers were hosted by the Malaysian Cricket Association and the Qatar Cricket Association. The top two sides of each sub-regional qualifier (Kuwait and Malaysia from qualifier A and Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from qualifier B) advanced to the combined regional final.
Asia qualifier A
Asia qualifier B
East Asia-Pacific sub-regional qualifiers The sub-regional qualifiers were hosted by the Samoa International Cricket Association and the Korea Cricket Association. The winners of each sub-regional qualifier (Samoa from qualifier A and Japan from qualifier B) advanced to the combined regional final.
EAP qualifier A
EAP qualifier B
Asia–EAP combined regional final
Nepal, Oman and Papua New Guinea directly qualified for the regional final after receiving a bye due to their participation in the 2024 T20 World Cup. The combined regional final was hosted by the Oman Cricket. The top three sides of the regional final (Nepal, Oman and the United Arab Emirates) qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Group stage
Super 6 stage
Europe qualifier The qualification stages were as follows: Qualifier A: Ten teams divided into two groups of five played in round-robin format followed by playoffs for a total of 24 matches from 9 to 16 June 2024 in Italy. Qualifier B: Ten teams divided into two groups of five played in round-robin format followed by playoffs for a total of 24 matches from 7 to 14 July 2024 in Germany. Qualifier C: Ten teams divided into two groups of five played in round-robin format followed by playoffs for a total of 24 matches from 21 to 28 August 2024 in Guernsey. Regional final: Five teams played in round-robin format for 10 matches from 5 to 11 July 2025 in the Netherlands.
Europe sub-regional qualifiers The sub-regional qualifiers were hosted by the Italian Cricket Federation, the German Cricket Federation and the Guernsey Cricket Board. The winners of each sub-regional qualifier (Italy from qualifier A, Jersey from qualifier B and Guernsey from qualifier C) advanced to the regional final.
Europe qualifier A
Group stage
Qualifier A final Italy defeated Romania by 160 runs.https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1436494.html
Europe qualifier B
Group stage
Qualifier B final Jersey defeated Norway by 6 wickets.https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1439836.html
Europe qualifier C
Group stage
Qualifier C final Guernsey defeated Denmark by 6 wickets.https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1443789.html
Europe regional final
The Netherlands and Scotland directly qualified for the regional final after receiving a bye due to their participation in the 2024 T20 World Cup. The regional final was hosted by the Royal Dutch Cricket Association The top two sides of the regional final (Italy and the Netherlands) qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Statistics Throughout the qualifiers, Alishan Sharafu of the United Arab Emirates scored the most runs (508 runs from 12 innings), while Festus Benn of Bahrain took the most wickets (22 wickets from 13 innings).
+ Most runs Runs Player Team 508 Alishan Sharafu 499 Brian Bennett 466 Jermaine Baker 402 Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming 396 Rakep Patel + Most wickets Wickets Player Team 22 Festus Benn 19 Ridwan Abdulkareem Derrick Brangman Richard Ngarava 18 Alessandro Morris
References