16 teams in Women's T20 World Cup in 2030, ICC confirm

The ICC Board has announced a landmark expansion of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, which will feature 16 teams in 2030. It is yet another step towards ICC's dream of equitability between the two formats of men's and women's games.

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The ICC Women's T20 World Cup has grown incrementally from its first edition in 2009, which it started with eight teams, then increased to 10 teams in 2016. The number of participating teams will increase to 12 in the 2026 tournament to be held in England and further to 16 by 2030. For the 2026 edition, the qualification cut-off date has been fixed as 31 October 2024.

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Moreover, the CEC confirmed that eight regional qualifying slots for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 would be determined. These would include two teams apiece from the Africa and Europe qualifiers, one from the Americas, and three from the combined Asia and EAP Regional Final. Previously, the structure had two spots from Asia and one from EAP.