Following the announcement of both the Women’s T20 World Cup and U19 World Cup qualification pathways, the ICC has confirmed the qualification pathway for the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup.
This replaces the previous structure announced earlier in the year which saw the ICC elect to use world rankings to select four teams for a free pass to the global qualifier.
The four-phase qualification process will involve eleven regional pathway tournaments, all taking place in 2021. Global qualifiers will be played in May 2022.
In total there will be 86 teams, including 67 Associate members, competing for the remaining 15 World Cup spots alongside hosts Australia.
That 15 will be made up with the other eleven sides in the ‘Super 12s’ in the T20 World Cup 2021 in India (besides Australia), plus four qualifiers.
In Europe, the men’s national teams of Hungary, Romania and Serbia will make their debut at a World Cup qualification event. Meanwhile, Finland will be hosting ICC qualifiers for the first time.
Japan will also be hosting an ICC men’s tournament for the first time since 2004. The East Asia Pacific event will be held just two weeks after the region’s U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier, the second such series to be held at the Sano International Cricket Ground, after 2019’s headline-grabbing installment.
Similar to how the U19 African and Asian qualifiers have been split into two divisions, the African and European men’s T20 qualifiers will also be divided into two sub-regionals before a regional final. Africa, the Americas, EAP and Europe will have one top tier regional qualifier, while Asia will have split ‘A’ and ‘B’ events to determine which teams will progress into the two eight-team global qualifiers.
The global qualifier will see one African team, one team from East Asia Pacific, two teams from the Americas and two Asian qualifiers compete against the four bottom teams from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 along with Nepal, Singapore (replacing Hong Kong from Jaunary’s announcement), UAE and Zimbabwe who have gained direct entry based on their MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings.
Four teams will go through from the global qualifier to the full event in Australia. These teams will be joined by those teams who gained an automatic qualification spot from the results of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
In the media release ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley expressed his delight at the announcement of the revised pathwaty.
‘The pathway which culminates in the eighth Men’s T20 World Cup which will be held in Australia, sees the likes of Hungary, Romania and Serbia competing for the first time in an ICC event of this format, highlighting the increased competitiveness within Associate Members. In addition, a remarkable 225 Men’s T20 Internationals are scheduled to be played providing a substantial number of playing opportunities to all Members’, Tetley said.
| Event | Host | Dates | |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia A Qualifier | Kuwait | 3-9 April 2021 | Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Qatar, Saudi Arabia |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa A Qualifier | South Africa | April 2021 | Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, Uganda |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa B Qualifier | South Africa | April 2021 | Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, St Helena, Tanzania |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe A Qualifier | Finland | 8 – 13 July 2021 | Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Spain |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe B Qualifier | Finland | 30 June – 5 July 2021 | Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Sweden |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe C Qualifier | Belgium | 5 – 10 July 2021 | Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Isle of Man, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia B Qualifier | Malaysia | 3-9 July 2021 | Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Thailand |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier | Japan | 11-16 October 2021 | Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Samoa, South Korea, Vanuatu |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier | Canada | 17 – 23 July 2021 | Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Panama, USA |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier | Spain | 15 – 21 October 2021 | Jersey, Europe Sub Regional Qualifier x3 |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier | Nigeria | November 2021 | Kenya, Nigeria, Africa Sub Regional Qualifier x2 |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A | TBC | February 2022 | Nepal, Singapore, UAE, Zimbabwe+ Bottom teams from ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 x4 Africa Qualifier x1 Asia Qualifier A&B x 2 Americas Qualifiers x2 EAP Qualifier x 1 Europe Qualifiers x2 |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B | TBC | May 2022 | |
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup | Australia | October – 13 November 2022 | AustraliaTop teams from Men’s T20WC 2021 x 11Men’s T20WC Qualifier A x2Men’s T20WC Qualifier B x2 |
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