Who's in it?
14 teams take part. Ten qualified automatically: co-hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, plus the next eight sides in the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings at the cut-off: India, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The last four places go to the top four teams at the World Cup Qualifier (26 February – 21 March 2027, in Namibia and South Africa). Co-host Namibia does not qualify automatically because it is not an ICC Full Member.
Round 1: Super Series (2–6 October, Windhoek)
The Qualifier winner goes straight into the group stage. The teams finishing second, third and fourth at the Qualifier play a mini round-robin of three matches in Windhoek. Only the top team in the Super Series moves on to the group stage. The other two go home.
Round 2: Group stage (7–24 October)
Twelve teams are split into two groups of six. Each team plays the others in its group once, which means five matches per team and 30 in total.
Group A
- India
- Australia
- Pakistan
- Afghanistan
- Zimbabwe host
- Qualifier A TBC
Group B
- New Zealand
- South Africa host
- Sri Lanka
- England
- Bangladesh
- Qualifier B TBC
Who advances: the top three in each group, plus the better of the two fourth-placed teams, so seven teams go through to the Super 7. The two fourth-placed teams are compared on their group records.
Round 3: Super 7 (25 October – 14 November)
The seven qualified teams play one match against each other: six matches each and 21 in total. Unlike the 2003 and 1999 tournaments, no points are carried forward. Every team starts the Super 7 on zero.
The top four reach the semi-finals.
What are the pre-seeded slots?
To publish a full fixture list a year in advance, the organisers pre-seeded seven teams into Super 7 slots:
| Slot | Pre-seeded team |
|---|---|
| A1 | India |
| A2 | Australia |
| A3 | Pakistan |
| AB4 | England |
| B1 | New Zealand |
| B2 | South Africa |
| B3 | Sri Lanka |
If a pre-seeded team fails to reach the Super 7 and a non-seeded team qualifies in its place, the newcomer takes over that slot and all its fixtures. For example, if Afghanistan made it and Pakistan didn't, Afghanistan would inherit Pakistan's A3 fixtures. This means fans can plan travel for the Super 7 now, even though the teams aren't confirmed.
Knockouts (17–21 November)
- Semi-final 1: Super 7 1st v 4th, Newlands, Cape Town, 17 November
- Semi-final 2: Super 7 2nd v 3rd, Centurion, 18 November
- Final: Wanderers, Johannesburg, Sunday 21 November 2027
Points and tie-breakers
A win earns 2 points, and a tie or no result 1 point each. Teams level on points are usually separated by net run rate (runs scored per over minus runs conceded per over). See the live points table.
How many matches does each team play?
- Super Series teams: up to 3, plus 5 group games if they advance
- Group-stage teams: 5
- Super 7 teams: 6 more (11 in total)
- Finalists: 13 matches. A team coming through the Super Series could play 16.
Why the new format?
A 14-team tournament with groups of seven, as in 2003, would need 54 matches. This structure gives the lowest-ranked qualifiers a route in through the Super Series, keeps the group stage short and makes the second round a full round-robin between the best seven teams. The result is more matches between the top sides.