2028 Men’s T20 World Cup Qualification Pathway: Explained

The 2026 T20 World Cup turned out to be a grand affair. Twenty teams competed for the title. But eventually, co-hosts India ran away with their third trophy.

Teams have now started preparing for the 2028 edition. The next edition will also feature 20 teams, with 12 of those already qualified.

Which teams have directly qualified for the 2028 T20 World Cup?

The 11th edition will take place in Australia and New Zealand. So both co-hosts have gained automatic qualification.

Meanwhile, seven teams booked their berths after securing Super Eight spots in the 2024 edition. 

Those teams are: 

• England 
• India
• Pakistan
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• West Indies
• Zimbabwe

Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Ireland filled the other three spots based on their superior ICC T20I team rankings.

This time, none of the associate teams have managed to secure a direct qualification to the mega event.

So how will the other eight teams qualify?

The ICC will first conduct regional qualifiers. There will be five regional qualifiers conducted in Africa, the Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific (EAP) and Europe. 

Two teams each from Africa, Asia and Europe, while one side each from the Americas and East Asia-Pacific will then qualify for the global qualifier.

The ICC has introduced the global qualifier ahead of the 2028 edition. This round will see 16 teams fight for eight spots in the main event.

While eight teams will qualify from the regional finals, the other eight teams have already sealed their spots directly. 

Namibia (Africa), Canada and the USA (the Americas), Nepal, Oman and the UAE (Asia) and Italy and the Netherlands (Europe) have earned a direct spot in the global qualifier, thanks to their participation in the 2024 edition.

How will the teams advance from the global qualifier?

Five of the eight spots will go to the highest-placed teams from each region in the global qualifier. 

The other three spots will be sealed by the next three highest-placed teams across all regions.

So that rounds up the qualification pathway for the 2028 men’s T20 World Cup.

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