The 2027 men’s ODI World Cup, which will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, has been provisionally inked into the calendar to run from October 4 to November 21 that year. ESPNcricinfo has learned the dates were agreed upon at the ICC board meeting in Ahmedabad in May with the finer details set to be confirmed at the ICC’s AGM in Edinburgh in July.
It is understood that South Africa’s eight venues will likely host the bulk of the matches – at least 41 of the 54 games – with Zimbabwe due to stage between eight and 10 games, and Namibia, three. Zimbabwe will also have three venues instead of the original two, with Victoria Falls joining Harare Sports Club and Queens in Bulawayo. The Fale Mosi-oa-Tunya International Cricket Stadium will be completed later this year and is set to host domestic cricket before an official inauguration next May. South Africa were initially in talks to travel to Zimbabwe this August to open the stadium as an international venue, but that has been pushed back.
The 2027 ODI World Cup will be the first in Africa since the 2003 tournament, though South Africa has since hosted the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2009 Champions Trophy and the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup. Zimbabwe and Namibia recently co-hosted the Under-19 men’s World Cup. It will return to a 14-team tournament after being played between 10 teams in the previous two editions. The teams will be divided into two groups of seven, before the top three from each group advance to the Super Six stage. As Full Members, South Africa and Zimbabwe automatically qualify but Namibia are part of the qualification process.
The ICC is set to take a final decision on whether to include all 12 Full Members (currently Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan are not part of the WTC) and if one-off Tests can be played as part of the WTC schedule. ESPNcricinfo understands a decision could be taken at the AGM in July, after which the full FTP will be fleshed out.
