The 2027 World Cup Qualifiers are scheduled to be played between February 26 and March 21 and are set to be co-hosted by South Africa and Namibia. The 10-team tournament, which will include West Indies, will be played in the window after the SA20 and before the IPL which should ensure that West Indies have their best players available.
Ireland are the other Full Member nation who will participate in the qualifiers, based on the ICC's ODI rankings as at September 30.
The ICC had indicated to potential participants earlier this year that the tournament would be played between February 22 and March 23, but the revised dates were confirmed at the ICC's meetings held in Dubai last week. Though venues were not put down then, several officials privy to the discussions have told Cricinfo the ICC has finalised South Africa and Namibia as hosts.
The SA20 starts from January 17 next year and ends on February 21 while the IPL is likely to start from end of March - though the window shared with franchises in 2024 said the 2027 season would fall between March 14 and May 30.
Co-hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe were given automatic qualification to the World Cup, along with the next eight teams in the rankings. That includes India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The remaining four teams will be decided via the 10-team qualifier, with the winner advancing straight to the group stage of the World Cup and the remaining three teams set to play a three-match Super Series to kick off the tournament. The winner of that Super Series, to be played in Namibia, will then move on to the main group.
The qualifiers will also include the top four teams from World Cricket League Division 2 (WCL 2) - currently Scotland, USA, Netherlands and Oman - and four other teams that come through a World Cup qualifier playoff, which is set to be played from December 1-22 at an undisclosed venue.
The playoff competition will include the bottom four teams of WCL 2 - currently Namibia, Canada, Nepal and UAE - and the top four teams from the Challenge League. As things stand those are: Italy, Uganda, Jersey and Kuwait.
Namibia, who will co-host the tournament, could still make it to the qualifier without needing to go through the playoff. To do that, they must beat USA and UAE in two matches each, which will start on October 3, and rely on results between Oman, Nepal and Canada going their way.