ICC Confirms Fixtures for Men’s World Cup Qualifier Play-off in Nepal From 4 December

The ICC on 6 November released the full schedule for the Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off, an eight-team event in Nepal from 4 to 21 December. Hosts Nepal open against Italy on 4 December, the same day Namibia meet Uganda. Four places in the 10-team Global Qualifier for the 2027 World Cup are at stake.

Who is playing

Four sides come from Cricket World Cup League 2: Namibia, Canada, Nepal and the UAE. Their final placings in that competition left them short of the four direct places, which went to the USA, Scotland, the Netherlands and Oman. Oman took the last of those spots on net run rate after finishing level with Namibia on 33 points. The other four teams are the top two from each Challenge League group: Jersey and Kuwait from League A, and Italy and Uganda from League B.

Format and schedule

The event is a single round-robin, so every team plays the other seven once. That makes 28 matches over 14 match days, with two games each day split between the Tribhuvan University ground and Mulpani Cricket Ground. There are no matches on 8, 11, 16 or 19 December.

Nepal’s fixtures are Italy (4 December), Uganda (6 December), the UAE (10 December), Jersey (12 December), Canada (14 December), Namibia (18 December) and Kuwait (21 December). Canada and Uganda play the other final-day match. The ICC has not announced start times.

What is at stake

The four play-off qualifiers join Ireland, the West Indies and the four League 2 qualifiers in the Global Qualifier. According to the ICC, the winner of that event goes straight into the group stage of the 2027 World Cup. The teams finishing second, third and fourth go into a newly created Super Series, and its details have not been set out.

Namibia are among the play-off sides even though they are co-hosts of the 2027 World Cup with South Africa and Zimbabwe. It runs from 2 October to 21 November 2027, with 14 teams, 57 matches and 12 venues.

Gaurav Saxena, the ICC’s General Manager for Events and Operations, called the play-off “a crucial stage” on the road to the World Cup.