ICC's Super Series twist for 2027 World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has brought a new twist, noting that the 2027 ODI World Cup, to be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, will be a 14-team competition but will be included of a ‘Super Series’ round before the group stage, along with a new ‘Super 7’ before the semi-finals as the new structure was announced after the body’s Annual Conference in Edinburgh.

The teams, qualifying 12th to 14th, will play the Super Series round. One team among the three sides will progress to the Group round, becoming one of the 12 sides being split across the two groups. The top three from each of the groups along with the next-best ranked team across both groups will then qualify for the Super 7, from which the top four will go through to the semis.

What is the "Super Series"? ICC's new elimination round explained for 2027 World Cup

A 14-team competition in 2027 means that the ICC sticks to a decision made in June 2021 about the expansion of the marquee event, after the 10-team tournaments in the 2019 and 2023 seasons. But the start of the round robin Super Series, from which one team goes through, means 12 teams will become the main attraction, the group stage where 30 games take place.

Rather than changing the number of participating teams in the World Cup, the ICC has decided to introduce a knockout phase earlier.

“The structure has been designed to strengthen the competitive narrative across every stage of the event, with matches from Round 1 and Round 2 carrying higher consequence with a highly competitive Super 7 stage witnessing 7 qualifying teams going through a round-robin stage to qualify for the semi-finals.” The ICC expressed this in a statement.

During the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia, 14 teams were split into groups, while in 2011 in India, a total of 16 teams broke into the competition. The ICC’s release did not refer to how many teams will gain entry or qualify for the event. Aside from the two full-member co-hosts, a 14-team event will likely include a combination of automatic qualifiers based on the ODI rankings.