The Asia & East-Asia Pacific (EAP) Qualifier 2025 is set to begin on October 8. Nine teams are in the race to claim three final spots in the T20 World Cup 2026.
Host Oman, Nepal, and the UAE look favourites, though we can’t ignore other teams who’ve made it through intense sub-regional qualifiers.
So, how will teams qualify for the T20 World Cup 2025?
But before that, let’s see how teams made it this far.
The Road to Asia-EAP Qualifier 2025
Three of the nine teams slotted in directly into the qualifier. Why? Just because they featured in the T20 World Cup 2024.
And which are those teams? Nepal, Oman, and Papua New Guinea.
Can these three teams qualify again? Only time will tell.
Onto the fourth team – Samoa. The island nation made it through the EAP Sub-regional Qualifier A, contested between four Pacific teams.
The next two teams – Malaysia and Kuwait – gained qualification from the Asia Sub-regional Qualifier A, played between seven teams.
Like Samoa, Japan qualified from the EAP Sub-regional Qualifier B. They faced zero trouble in the four-team qualifier and made it out unbeaten.
And the other two teams? The UAE and Qatar sealed the top two spots in the seven-team Asia Sub-regional Qualifier B. The UAE didn’t even drop a single game, while Qatar lost one (against the UAE) to trail them.
Now the big question.
How will teams qualify for the T20 World Cup 2026?
So, 17 of the 20 spots are already locked in. Now remain three slots, which will be sealed in the Asia-EAP Qualifier 2025.
The Group Stage
First, teams will battle it out in a short group stage. Each group consists of three teams. So we have three groups – Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3.
Teams play among their group members once. With just two matches, teams need to play their cards well and aim to grab one of the top two spots to proceed to the next round – the Super Six stage. Simple!
The Super Six Stage
The top two teams from each group will enter the Super Six stage. Think of it as another group stage.
The only difference is each team will play four matches instead of five. How?
Each team will actually play against the opponents from the other two groups once. So that makes it four matches.
What about the other team from their same group? Teams from the same group won’t face each other again in Super Six. They will simply carry forward the points won (if any) against the opponent from their same group.
For instance, Group 2 teams won’t play against each other. Rather, they will square off against the two teams from Group 1 and the two from Group 3.
Alright. What happens after the Super Six stage?
Nothing, actually. The Super Six stage will decide the three T20 World Cup-bound teams.
And the qualifying teams will be those occupying the top three spots in the points table. There are no knockouts, no final.
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