The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced sweeping changes to the formats of its flagship men’s tournaments, introducing new structures for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to increase competitiveness and ensure every match carries greater significance.
The 14-team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will now feature a three-stage format. A new opening ‘Super Series’ round involving the bottom three qualified teams will determine one additional entrant into the main group stage. The six teams emerging from the group phase, along with the next best-performing side, will then compete in a seven-team Super 7 round-robin, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals.
The ICC has also revamped the 20-team Men’s T20 World Cup. The tournament will now begin with five groups of four teams instead of four groups of five. The top two teams from each group will qualify for a Super 10 stage, replacing the previous Super Eights. The winners of each Super 10 group will qualify directly for the semi-finals, while the second and third-placed teams will battle in two Eliminator matches for the remaining semi-final spots.
In another major development, the ICC Board endorsed a proposal for a 16-team global tournament for Associate nations, which is expected to serve as a precursor to future T20 World Cups, subject to final financial approval.
The Board also approved the qualification pathway for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028. Scotland will enter directly into the Europe Regional Final, while other non-automatically qualified teams from the 2026 edition will advance to the Global Qualifier. Regional qualification events will determine the remaining teams, creating a clearer and more competitive route to the 2028 tournament.
