The T20 World Cup 2024 preparations are already on board for the qualifying pathway which is set to take place in Europe.
There will be eight qualifying berths available, with the hosts, the West Indies and the United States, getting in automatically.
The ICC announced on Tuesday that the first qualifying event for the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup will take place in Europe in June.
A record 20 teams will compete in the 2024 World Cup, which will be contested in the West Indies and the United States. Twelve teams will qualify automatically, with the other eight seats filled through qualifying events.
The 2024 T20 World Cup qualifying pathway
The sub-regional qualifiers, which will take place in 2022 and 2023, will be the first step in the qualifying process. There will be 68 teams competing in ten events, with 16 teams from Africa competing in two events. Meanwhile, eight teams from the Americas competing in one event, nine teams from Asia competing in two events.
Adding on to it, seven teams from the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region competing in two events, and 28 teams from Europe competing in two events (three events). This year’s three sub-regional qualifications in Europe will take place over five weeks in Belgium and Finland, beginning June 28.
The top teams from the sub-regional qualifiers will advance to five regional finals in 2023. Four athletes will advance to the regional Africa finals, and two to the main event in 2024, from the two sub-regional qualifiers in Africa. The top three teams from the Americas sub-regional qualifiers will play with Canada in the Americas regional finals for a spot in the World Cup.
In the regional Asia finals, one team from each of the two Asia sub-regional qualifiers will compete for the two final slots in the main tournament against Bahrain, Nepal, and Oman. The winners of each of the EAP sub-regional events will compete for one qualification position in the EAP regional finals against the Philippines. Each of the three sub-regional winners from Europe this June will fight with Germany for the final two qualification positions in the Europe regional finals next year.
Automatic qualifications
In terms of automatic qualification, the top eight teams from the 2022 men’s T20 World Cup, in October-November, will fill eight positions. The two next highest-ranked teams on the ICC’s T20 rankings as of November 14 will fill the remaining two berths.
If the West Indies finish in the top eight in this year’s World Cup, the top three teams in the ICC rankings on the cut-off date will qualify.
Chris Tetley, the ICC’s head of events, commented on the start of the qualification road.
“We are delighted to see a record number of teams competing for places at ICC events as the Men’s T20 World Cup pathway begins in Europe. The T20 format continues to drive the growth of the game and over the next two years we will see new teams competing in ICC events for the very first time.”
“A very warm welcome to Hungary, Romania and Serbia who are making their debut and thanks to Cricket Belgium and Cricket Finland for playing host to a record number of teams at this stage in qualification. I would like to wish all the competing teams every success as they begin their journey towards the USA and West Indies in 2024.”
The T20 World Cup in 2024 is scheduled to commence in June of that year. It will be the United States’ first big ICC event.