The ICC Women's Championship (IWC) is an international
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 ...
tournament used to determine qualification for the
Women's Cricket World Cup
The Women's Cricket World Cup is the quadrennial international championship of Women's One Day International Cricket tournament. Matches are played as One Day Internationals over 50 overs per team. There is also another championship for Tw ...
.
The first two tournaments were contested between the top eight teams of the
ICC Women's Rankings. The first edition was the
2014–16 ICC Women's Championship, which started in April 2014 and was concluded in November 2016.
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
were the winners of the inaugural tournament.
The
second edition of the tournament started in October 2017, with the top four teams automatically qualifying for the
2021 Women's Cricket World Cup.
In September 2018, 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) announced that they were exploring the option to expand the IWC to all ten teams, therefore including
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
and
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in future editions of the competition. In August 2021, the ICC confirmed that the three qualifiers from the
2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament and the next two best placed teams would qualify for the next IWC cycle. However, in November 2021, the qualifier tournament was called off midway through, due to the discovery of a
new variant of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
in Southern Africa. Therefore, Bangladesh and Ireland joined the IWC for the
2022–25 cycle, based on their
ODI rankings.
In August 2024, the ICC announced that
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
will be included in the
2025–2029 cycle of the Championship.
Tournament history
Season
Teams
Key:
References
{{International cricket
Women's international cricket
ICC Women's Championship
Recurring sporting events established in 2014
International Cricket Council events
Women's One Day International cricket competitions