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The International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially confirmed that Pakistan will host the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2028, with India set to play all their matches at a neutral venue under the agreed hosting arrangements.
The development was approved during the latest ICC Board meeting, where several key decisions related to women's cricket were taken. Alongside confirming the qualification pathway for the Women's T20 World Cup 2028, the ICC also approved changes to the schedule of the Women's Champions Trophy and introduced a new global event for emerging teams.
ICC confirms qualification pathway for Women's T20 World Cup 2028
The ICC Board has approved a 12-team format for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2028, which will be hosted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). As per the qualification structure, 10 teams will qualify automatically, including the top eight teams from the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026, the host nation if not already qualified, and the next highest-ranked teams in the ICC Women's T20I rankings as of July 6, 2026.
The remaining two spots will be decided through a 10-team Global Qualifier, which will be supported by regional qualification events. The ICC also confirmed that regional allocations for the qualification process will be finalized during its July meetings.
As part of the tripartite agreement between the PCB, the ICC, and the BCCI signed last year, the cricket teams of India and Pakistan will not travel to each other's countries for the foreseeable future, even for ICC events.
The original agreement was to last till 2027, but with this announcement, it is likely to last even longer.
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ICC Women's Champions Trophy finally launched
At the same meeting, the ICC decided to finalise a date for the ICC Women's Champions Trophy. Just like the men's Champions Trophy, a women's Champions Trophy has been a long-standing goal of the ICC.
The tournament was originally announced in 2021, with an inaugural edition planned for 2023, but that did not materialise. The tournament was then pushed forward to 2026 before being finalised for 2027 last year.
In July 2022, the ICC decided that Sri Lanka would host the first edition of the tournament. At the Ahmedabad meeting, it was decided that the tournament would be preponed from the original June-July window to now being held between February 14 and 28 in 2027.
Unlike the Men's Champions Trophy, this tournament will be held in the T20 format. Another key point of difference is that the Women's Tournament will feature 6 teams in a round-robin format, with the top two playing the final.
ICC announces new Women's tournament
The global board also announced a new tournament in the Women's cricket calendar.
This tournament will be known as the ICC Women's Emerging Nations Trophy and will be held later this year. The tournament will feature 5 Full Member and 5 Associate Nation teams.
Out of the 12 ICC full members, one, Afghanistan, does not field a Women's team despite the existence of a Women's Cricket program being mandatory for full membership.
The ICC announced that the teams will be selected based on team rankings and previous T20 World Cup qualifications.
