2027 World Cup qualifiers to be held in South Africa and Namibia from February 26

Cricknation Update: The 2027 World Cup Qualifiers will be held in South Africa and Namibia from February 26 (Photo source: Gareth Copley/) South Africa and Namibia will co-host the 2027 ODI World Cup Qualifiers, a 10-team tournament running from February 26 to March 21, 2027.

The event will determine which additional countries will join the sides that have already secured their places in the 2027 ODI World Cup. The dates were confirmed at ICC meetings held in Dubai in late September 2026. The ICC had initially indicated a window of February 22 to March 23 before revising the schedule to the current dates.

The revised window sits neatly between two major domestic competitions: the SA20 runs from January 17 to February 21, 2027, ending just days before the qualifiers begin, while the IPL 2027 season window runs from March 14 to May 30, with the tournament itself expected to get under way at the end of March. South Africa and Zimbabwe have already been given automatic entry into the 2027 ODI World Cup as co-hosts of the main event. They are joined by eight sides who achieved automatic qualification: India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The qualifiers and the subsequent Super Series will determine the remaining berths. Which teams will compete in the 2027 World Cup Qualifiers? West Indies and Ireland are among the confirmed participants in the 10-team qualifier.

Ireland secured their place as a full member team based on the ICC ODI Rankings as of September 30, 2026. The four top-ranking nations in the World Cricket League Division 2, namely Scotland, USA, Netherlands and Oman, have also been included in the region. A separate playoff, scheduled for December 1 to 22 at a venue yet to be announced, will determine further participants.

That playoff brings together the four sides who finished at the bottom of WCL Division 2, which are Namibia, Canada, Nepal and UAE, alongside the four Challenge League teams who finished highest: Italy, Uganda, Jersey and Kuwait. Namibia, as a qualifier co-host, have an alternative route into the main event. They can secure a direct spot without going into the playoffs by beating USA and UAE twice each in the matches starting October 3, provided results elsewhere in Oman, Nepal and Canada go in their favour.

How does qualification to the 2027 World Cup work from the qualifiers? The team that wins the qualifiers will directly advance to the group stage of the 2027 ODI World Cup. The three remaining teams from the qualifiers will then take part in the Super Series to be held in Namibia and the winner of that series will also get a place in the main group stage.

Overall, the Qualifiers and Super Series will add two more nations to the 2027 ODI World Cup in addition to the ten teams that have already confirmed their participation through automatic or host-nation qualification. This pathway provides associate countries and lower level full members a structured route to global organizing. Specific match venues within South Africa and Namibia for the qualifier have not yet been confirmed.