ICC Expands Women’s T20 World Cup to 16 Teams by 2030

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday that the Women’s T20 World Cup will expand to 16 teams starting in 2030. This decision reflects the ICC’s commitment to achieving equity between the men’s and women’s games.

Initially, the Women’s T20 World Cup featured eight teams in its debut edition in 2009, with England winning the title. The tournament will see an increase to ten teams in 2026, to be held in England, and will then expand to 12 teams before reaching 16 teams in 2030.

The ICC also set October 31 as the qualification cut-off date for the 2026 tournament. Additionally, USA Cricket and Cricket Chile have been put on notice and given 12 months to address issues related to their governance and administrative structures to meet ICC Membership Criteria.

In other announcements, the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) allocated eight regional qualifying spots for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. This new structure will see two teams each qualifying from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas, and three from a combined Asia and East Asia-Pacific regional final.

The ICC Board also confirmed that a review of the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be conducted by directors Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo, and Imran Khwaja, with a report expected later this year.

At the ICC Annual Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Paul Reiffel was appointed to the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee as an Elite Panel Umpire, and Richie Richardson was confirmed as an Elite Panel Referee. The conference, held just before the Paris 2024 Olympics, focused on “Capitalizing on the Olympic Opportunity,” ahead of cricket’s inclusion in the LA28 Games.

(With ANI Inputs)
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