ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup 2023: All you need to know about the inaugural edition

The inaugural edition of the ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup will take place in South Africa from January 2023. As many as 16 teams will compete in the tournament, which will start on January 14 and comprise 41 matches in all. It will be followed by the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023, which also begins in South Africa on February 9.

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Eleven Full-Member nations gained automatic entry to the inaugural edition of the U19 Women's T20 World Cup. They are Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.

The remaining five spots were filled by one team from each of the ICC's five regions, through regional Qualifier tournaments, which had begun in June this year.

Teams that came through the Qualifiers

As many as 19 teams participated in the regional qualifiers across Asia, Europe, East Asia-Pacific (EAP), and Africa.

Asia Qualifier: Bhutan, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Qatar, UAE (Q)

Africa Qualifier: Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda (Q), Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda

Europe Qualifier: Netherlands, Scotland (Q)

EAP Qualifier: Indonesia (Q), PNG

USA gained the fifth spot being the only Associate nation eligible to compete under ICC's Event Pathway Participation Criteria in the Americas region.

UAE was the first to qualify after they won the Asia Qualifier in Malaysia with a six-wicket victory over Thailand. The two teams had beaten all others to reach the final, where UAE emerged triumphant.

In the EAP qualifier, Indonesia surprised PNG with a 2-1 series victory to qualify for the main tournament.

Scotland beat the Netherlands in back-to-back matches to book their spot in the Europe Qualifier.

In the ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier 2022, Rwanda defeated Tanzania by six wickets in the final to clinch their spot for the first time at an ICC World Cup tournament at any level.

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The format of the tournament

The 16 teams are divided into four groups as follows:

Group A: 
Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the USA

Group B: 
England, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe

Group C: 
Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, and West Indies

Group D:
India, Scotland, South Africa, and the UAE

The top three teams from each group will progress to the Super Six round, where teams will be pooled into two groups of six. Group 1 will comprise three teams each from Groups A and D, while Group 2 will have three teams each from Groups B and C. 

The top two teams from each group will progress to the semi-finals, which will both be played on 27 January at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom. 

The final will take place at the same venue on 29 January.