Women's T20 World Cup 2030: ICC Makes Huge 'Expansion' Announcement For The Mega Event

Women's T20 World Cup 2030: ICC has made a huge announcement for the Women's T20 World Cup 2030, as the mega event will see a 'certain' expansion. Here are the details. Read below.

Australia Women are the reigning T20 World Cup champions, and will be defending their crown at the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup 2024

Source : @ICC / X

Women's T20 World Cup 2030: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday, July 22, has made a huge announcement for the Women's T20 World Cup 2030, as the apex institution for cricket in the world is set to expand the number of teams to 16 at the mega event.

In line with ICC's dedication to equity in cricket, the Women's T20 World Cup 2030 will feature more teams than ever before 🙌

More from the Annual Conference 👇https://t.co/o0ZsOTH9Kb

— ICC (@ICC) July 22, 2024

It is a historic day for Women's Cricket, as their rapid rise in the sport is pretty much well-complemented by ICC, and this decision will certainly give hopes to many associate nations and a dream to feature at the global stage, against the likes of the mighty Australia Women and India Women.

The Women's T20 World Cup initially featured 8 teams (in 2009), and the first-ever expansion took place in 2016, when the number of team participating were extended to 10. This year's Women's T20 World Cup will also see 10 sides feature, but the 2026 edition will see 12 teams feature.

The decision was take by the ICC Board at the Annual Board Meeting, and the decision was officially confirmed by the Chief Executives' Committee (CEC), who were present at the ICC Annual Conference in Colombo today, as all the 108 ICC Members attended the ICC Board and Annual General Meeting.

The annual meeting was a four-day long process and was held just days before the Paris Olympics 2024, as the theme of this year's meeting was "Capitalizing on the Olympic Opportunity", given the fact that Cricket will be making a historic debut at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.

 

Key Decisions Taken And Announcements Made During ICC Board And Annual General Meeting 2024 Colombo

There were several key decisions alongside the major decision of team expansion at the Women's T20 World Cup 2030, which are as follows:

• The qualification cut-off date for the 2026 edition has been announced, and it will be October 31, 2024
• The allocation of the eight regional qualifying spots for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 has been confirmed by the Chief Executives' Committee (CEC). Africa and Europe have been alloted two slots each, whereas, the Americas region will have a sole qualification slot. Asia and EAP regions see an upgradation from two slots, as there will be now three slots.
• Paul Reiffel has been appointed as an Elite Panel Umpire in the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee, whilst Richie Richardson is now the new Elite Panel Referee on the Committee.