The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved major changes to the format of its biggest men’s tournaments. The ODI and T20 World Cups will have new competition structures, while a new global event for associate nations has also been introduced ahead of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2028. The decisions were made during the ICC Board’s annual meetings in Edinburgh after recommendations from the Chief Executives’ Committee.
The ICC said the new formats are designed to make every match more important from the start, improve the overall level of competition and give fans and players a better tournament experience.
The Board, which included three representatives from associate nations, also approved the qualification system for the 2028 T20 WC edition.
New format for the 14-team ODI World Cup
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will continue to feature 14 teams, but the tournament will now be played in three stages before the knockout rounds.
The three lowest-ranked qualified teams (12th, 13th and 14th) will first play a round-robin Super Series. The winner of this stage will join the other 11 teams in the second round.
The second stage will have two groups of six teams, with every team playing the others in its group once. The top three teams from each group, along with the next best team across both groups, will qualify for the Super 7 stage.
The Super 7 will be a single round-robin featuring seven teams. The top four teams will reach the semi-finals, where the first-placed side will face the fourth-placed team and the second-placed team will take on the third. The winners will then meet in the final.
According to the ICC, this format will make every game more interesting while still giving emerging teams a chance to compete on the world stage.
T20 World Cup gets Super 10 stage
The 20-team ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will also have a new format. Instead of four groups of five teams, the tournament will begin with five groups of four teams. The top two teams from each group will advance to the next stage, which has been expanded from the Super Eights to a Super 10.
The Super 10 will consist of two groups of five teams. The group winners will qualify directly for the semi-finals.
The teams finishing second in each group will play the third-placed team from the opposite group in two eliminator matches. The winners of those games will secure the remaining two semi-final spots.
The ICC said the new format increases the number of teams in the second stage from eight to 10, giving more opportunities to developing nations while keeping the competition strong.
Qualification for T20 World Cup 2028
The ICC also confirmed the qualification pathway for the Men’s T20 World Cup 2028.
Scotland will receive direct entry into the Europe Regional Final because of special circumstances linked to its participation in the 2026 tournament.
Teams that competed in the T20 World Cup 2026 but did not qualify automatically for the 2028 edition will move directly to the Global Qualifier.
The remaining eight places in the Global Qualifier will be decided through regional tournaments. Africa, Asia and Europe will each get two spots, while the Americas and East Asia-Pacific regions will receive one spot each.
From the Global Qualifier, the best-performing team from each region, along with the next three highest-ranked teams overall, will qualify for the 2028 T20 World Cup, provided they meet the ICC’s minimum performance standards.