Zimbabwe and Namibia have successfully qualified for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier, set to be held in Nepal early next year. The tournament will feature ten teams competing for four places at the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in England, scheduled for June and July. Notably, neither Zimbabwe nor Namibia has ever reached a Women’s World Cup in any format before.
Africa Qualifiers Decided
Zimbabwe earned their spot by defeating Uganda in the first semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Division One Qualifier in Windhoek on Thursday. Namibia followed suit, beating Tanzania in the second semi-final to secure qualification. The two teams will face each other in the final of the Africa regional qualifier on September 6.
𝑨 𝒁𝒊𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒘𝒆 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, “𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒄 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒓. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏’𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒁𝒊𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒘𝒆.”
Global Qualifier Format and Teams
The Global Qualifier will feature ten teams split into two groups of five. The top three from each group will progress to the Super Six stage, culminating in the final. Matches will take place at the Lower and Upper Mulpani Cricket Stadiums in Kathmandu from January 12 to February 2.
Already confirmed for the tournament are Bangladesh, Ireland, Thailand, Nepal, and the USA. The remaining three teams will emerge from the other regional qualifiers: two from Europe and one from the East Asia-Pacific region.
𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒂’𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅, “𝑸𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆. 𝑾𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑.”
The 2026 T20 World Cup will see a record 12 teams competing, up from ten in 2024. New Zealand enter the tournament as defending champions after their victory over South Africa in last year’s final in Dubai.
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