Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Bangladesh and Nepal are set to host ICC U19 events from 2024-2027, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on November 13 (Sunday). The 2024 U19 men's World Cup will be hosted by Sri Lanka while the 2026 edition will be staged in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
The 2025 U19 women’s T20 World Cup will be held in Malaysia and Thailand, and the 2027 U19 women's event will be jointly hosted by Bangladesh and Nepal.
"The hosts were selected via a competitive bidding process overseen by a Board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden," the ICC said in a media release.
"The ICC Board accepted the recommendations of the committee who conducted a thorough review of each bid along with ICC management," the release added.
The qualification pathway for the 10-team 2024 women's T20 World Cup was also approved.
Eight teams will qualify for the event automatically comprising the top three teams from each group from the 2023 T20 World Cup, the host Bangladesh (if not in the top three of Group 1) and the next highest ranked teams on the ICC T20I Rankings on February 27, 2023.
The remaining two teams will be identified through the 10-team women's T20 World Cup Global Qualifier.
The qualification pathway for the 14-team men's World Cup 2027 was also decided with ten teams gaining automatic qualification.
The 10 will comprise South Africa and Zimbabwe as full member hosts and the next eight highest-ranked teams on the ODI rankings on a date to be confirmed.
The remaining four teams will qualify via the ICC CWC Global Qualifier.
(With PTI inputs)
