The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a new format for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2027 as the tournament expands from 10 to 14 teams. The event will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, with Namibia set to host matches in a men's ODI World Cup for the first time.
The tournament will open with a new preliminary stage called the Super Series. The three lowest-ranked qualified teams will play each other in a round-robin competition, but only the table-topper will move on to the main tournament, while the other two teams will be knocked out.
The remaining 12 teams will then compete in the main group stage, split into two groups of six. Each team will play five matches, and the top three sides from each group, along with the next best-performing team overall, will advance to the newly introduced Super 7 stage.
In the Super 7, all seven teams will play each other once. The top four teams at the end of this round will qualify for the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final to decide the champion.
The ICC says the new structure is aimed at making every match more meaningful by reducing the number of dead-rubber games. However, the format has drawn criticism from the World Cricketers' Association and several players from Associate nations, who believe the preliminary Super Series gives lower-ranked teams fewer opportunities and could slow the game's growth in emerging cricket nations.


