The 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup will be the 10th edition of the

Men's T20 World Cup The ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly the ICC World Twenty20, is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in every odd year from 2007 to 2009, ...

. It is scheduled to be hosted by

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

along with the defending champions

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

from February to March 2026.

Background

The

ICC Men's T20 World Cup The ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly the ICC World Twenty20, is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in every odd year from 2007 to 2009, ...

is a biennial

world cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

for

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) format, organized by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC). The tournament, now being held every two years, was first played in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

in South Africa.

are the defending champions, having defeated

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in the final of the previous edition.

Host selection

In November 2021, as part of the

2024–2031 ICC men's hosts cycle The ICC Future Tours Programme (ICC FTP) is a schedule of international cricket tours and tournaments which structure the programme of cricket events for International Cricket Council (ICC) full members and associate members with One Day Inter ...

, India and Sri Lanka were announced as co-hosts for the tournament. Initially the plan was for Sri Lanka to host the entire tournament but due to expansion of the tournament and lack of stadiums in Sri Lanka it was decided to co-host with India. Sri Lanka first hosted the T20 World Cup in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and India hosted in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In December 2024, following an agreement between the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

(BCCI) and

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

(PCB), the ICC confirmed that matches involving India and Pakistan at all ICC events hosted by India or Pakistan would be played at a neutral venue until at least 2027. As a result, any matches involving Pakistan at the 2026 tournament will be played in

Format

The tournament's format will remain the same as the previous edition. The 20 qualifying teams were divided into four groups of five teams; the five teams in each group played with the other four – for a total of ten matches per group – and the top two teams in each group advanced to the Super 8 stage. The advanced 8 teams were divided into two groups of four teams based on pre-tournament seedings; the advanced teams in each group played with all the others in that group – for a total of six matches per group – and the top two teams in each advanced group advanced to the

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

Qualification

and

qualified directly as co-hosts. They will be joined by the top eight teams from the

2024 Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major International Cricket Council, ICC tournament to include ...

and the best three other teams from the

ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings The ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings is an international Twenty20 cricket rankings system of the International Cricket Council. After every Twenty20 International (T20I) match, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. Th ...

. The remaining eight teams will be decided by regional qualifiers, with two teams from Africa and Europe, three teams from the combined Asia and East Asia-Pacific region, and one team from the Americas region.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Sports, Cricket * International cricket competitions in 2025–26 International cricket competitions in India International cricket competitions in Sri Lanka ICC

2026 in Indian sport 2026 in Sri Lanka