Everything you always wanted to know about qualifying for the upcoming Cricket World Cups
Published at 02 October, 2025The KNCB (Royal Dutch Cricket Association) gets that question quite often… Below is an explanation.
2025 Women's Cricket World Cup
The Women's Cricket World Cup will begin soon in India at the end of September 2025 with only eight participants: the top six in the rankings (including the host) and the two finalists of the Global Qualifier: Pakistan and Bangladesh. Unfortunately, the Netherlands narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament. The teams ranked 7th through 12th played a Global Qualifier earlier this year. However, the Netherlands were ranked thirteenth in the world at the time and thus missed out after a defeat to Scotland.
One Day Internationals (women), click here.
2026 Women's T20 World Cup
The Dutch women's team, who are developing rapidly, is primarily focused on the 2026 T20 World Cup in England. Then there will be twelve participants, and the Dutch team has a realistic chance of qualifying. The Netherlands is currently (September 2025) fifteenth. In August 2025, the Dutch women played a European qualifying tournament in the Netherlands at VOC. The top two of these – Ireland and the Netherlands – will advance to a Global Qualifier in January 2026 with ten participants. The top four of these will go to the World Cup in England in 2026.
Worldwide Women's T20 Standings, click here.
Men's T20 World Cup in 2026
The next T20 World Cup for the men will be in February 2026 in Sri Lanka and India. It will have twenty participants. The top eight of the T20 World Cup in June 2024 qualified directly, as did the two host countries. The two countries below them in the ICC rankings also qualify directly. The countries below them must secure qualification in regional qualifying tournaments. In addition to the already qualified teams England and Ireland, two more Europeans teams will advance. On paper, Scotland and the Netherlands were strong contenders, but it was the Netherlands and Italy who qualified. The European T20 World Cup qualifier was held at VCC in the summer of 2025, with five participating countries: Scotland, the Netherlands, Jersey, Italy, and Guernsey.
Men's T20 rankings, click here.
Men's Cricket World Cup 2027
The next 50-over Cricket World Cup will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia in October 2027. This tournament will feature fourteen participants. The top eight in the global rankings will qualify. In the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2, in which the Netherlands currently participates, eight countries are playing a large number of matches between 2024 and 2026. The Netherlands' final Series will be held in Dubai in December 2026. The top four of this WCL2 will definitely advance to a Global Qualifier in 2027. The ten participants in that tournament will face strong Full Members, just as in 2023. The top four of the Global Qualifier will qualify for the 2027 World Cup.
Men's WCL2 standings, click here.
Photo credit (men): Ian Jacobs
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