How Will Teams Qualify for 2027 Cricket World Cup Qualifier?

The Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2027 is fast approaching. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will co-host the upcoming edition (Check the venues here!).

It’s a 14-team event. Ten of those teams have qualified automatically through ICC ODI team rankings. But four slots are yet to be decided.

And for that, the ICC will host the 2027 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

So how many teams will play in the 2027 Cricket World Cup Qualifier?

The global qualifier is a 10-team tournament. The teams will qualify through three qualification methods.

First is the ICC ODI team rankings, second is the 2024-26 CWC League 2 and third is the 2027 CWC Qualifier Play-off.

But how exactly will teams qualify for the 2027 CWC Qualifiers?

So two teams will qualify directly based on the ICC ODI team rankings. But which two? 

The 11th- and 12th-ranked teams in the ICC rankings (rankings cut-off as of September 30, 2026). Ireland and the West Indies are the two teams that’ve made the cut.

The other eight teams will come from two qualifying tournaments – CWC League 2 and CWC Qualifier Play-off.

Now what’s the CWC League 2 and CWC Qualifier Play-off?

So the 2024-26 CWC League 2 is a pathway tournament to qualify for the 2027 CWC Qualifiers. 

Eight associate nations with ODI status are participating in it. And they are the Netherlands, Nepal, Oman, Scotland, Canada, Namibia, the UAE and the USA.

These teams play nine ODI tri-series each over two and a half years. The tri-series take place in a double round-robin format.

The top four teams at the end of the cycle qualify for the CWC Qualifier. And the bottom four teams move to the CWC Qualifier Play-off.

What happens in the CWC Qualifier Play-off?

So the bottom four teams from the CWC League 2 will face four teams from the Challenge League, making it an eight-team tournament.

Now what’s the Challenge League?

It’s a List A tournament played among 12 associate teams. These 12 teams are placed into two groups of six each.

Teams in each group play each other three times in three single-round-robin stages over two years.

The 2024-26 Challenge League features these teams:

Group A	Group B
Jersey	Uganda
Kuwait	Italy
Papua New Guinea	Hong Kong
Denmark	Bahrain
Kenya	Tanzania
Qatar	Singapore

The top two teams from each group advance to the CWC Qualifier Play-off. 

The Play-off will then see a single round-robin format, with the top four sides qualifying for the 2027 CWC Qualifier.

So this wraps up the qualification process for the 2027 CWC Qualifier set to take place in South Africa and Namibia.

All About Cricket World Cup 2027

Explained: 2027 Cricket World Cup Qualification Pathway

Cricket World Cup 2027 Format: Explained

India’s ODI Schedule Till 2027 Cricket World Cup

Australia’s ODI Schedule Till 2027 Cricket World Cup

South Africa’s ODI Schedule Till 2027 Cricket World Cup

England’s ODI Schedule Till 2027 Cricket World Cup

Pakistan’s ODI Schedule Till 2027 Cricket World Cup

New Zealand’s ODI Schedule Till 2027 Cricket World Cup