ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP

The 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is the tenth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Board of Control for Cricket in India and Sri Lanka Cricket from 7 February to 8 March 2026. Sri Lanka had previously hosted the competition in 2012 and India in 2016. A total of twenty teams are competing in 55 matches across five venues in India and three in Sri Lanka

Twenty teams compete in the tournament, which includes the teams from the two hosts, six of the top seven teams from the previous edition, the four highest-ranked teams in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings not already qualified, and eight other teams determined through regional qualifiers. Italy qualified for the Men’s T20 World Cup for the first time.

India are the defending champions, having won the previous edition.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was first played in 2007 in South Africa, and the 2026 tournament marked its tenth edition.The ninth edition, held in 2024 in the West Indies and the United States, was contested by 20 teams, and was won by India, who defeated South Africa in the final.

In November 2021, as part of the 2024–2031 ICC men’s hosts cycle, the ICC announced that the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup would be played in India and Sri Lanka. Initially Sri Lanka Cricket proposed to host the entire tournament, however, due to expansion of the tournament to 20 teams from the previous edition and lack of cricket stadiums in Sri Lanka, it was decided to be co-hosted with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Sri Lanka had previously hosted the competition in 2012 and India in 2016.Format

The tournament’s format will remain the same as the previous edition. The 20 qualifying teams were divided into four groups of five each. In the group stage, each team will play each of the other teams in the group once in a round-robin format, and the top two teams in each group will advance to the Super 8 stage, where the teams would be placed into two groups of four teams each. Prior to the tournament, the ICC announced the eight seeded teams based on the ICC T20I rankings, who would be placed in predetermined positions in the Super 8 stage, irrespective of their position in the group stage. If an unseeded team qualified at the expense of a seeded team, it would take the position of the corresponding seeded team that failed to qualify from their group. In the Super 8 stage, each team will play against each of the other teams in the group once. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, which consists of two semi-finals, the winners of which face off in the final.

In the 2023–2027 ICC Men’s Future Tours Programme, the tournament was scheduled to be held in February – March 2026.ICC announced the final schedule on 25 November 2025, with the tournament scheduled to take place from 7 February to 8 March 2026. The teams will play 55 matches across five venues in India and three venues in Sri Lanka. On 26 January 2026, the ICC announced that warm-up matches would be held from 2 to 6 February.

The ICC has not revealed the prize money for the 2026 tournament.

In November 2025, former Indian captain Rohit Sharma was named as an ambassador for the tournament.The official theme song for the tournament, “Feel The Thrill”, produced and performed by Anirudh Ravichander with lyrics by Heisenberg and Raqueeb Alam, was released on 30 January 2026.

A promotional event, the Captains’ Carnival, featuring all the team captains and social media influencers was held on 5 February in Mumbai and Colombo. On 6 February, the ICC announced that an opening ceremony would be held at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the third match of the day between India and USA. Badshah, Nora Fatehi, Rishab Sharma and Shivamani performed at the opening ceremony.

The hosts, India and Sri Lanka, along with the top seven teams from the 2024 tournament, automatically qualified for the 2026 tournament. The remaining three automatic qualification places were allocated to the next best-ranked teams in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings as on 30 June 2024, that had not finished in the top seven. The eight remaining places were filled through the ICC’s regional qualifiers, consisting of two teams each from Africa and Europe regions, three teams combined from Asia and East Asia-Pacific and one team from the Americas.In June 2025, Canada qualified from the World Cup from the Americas region,followed by Italy and Netherlands from the Europe region in July. In October 2025, Namibia and Zimbabwe qualified from the Africa region, followed by Nepal, Oman and United Arab Emirates from the combined Asia-EAP qualifier. Italy qualified for the men’s T20 World Cup for the first time.