The ICC will unveil the full schedule for the 2027 Men's Cricket World Cup at a ceremony in Cape Town on October 1, 2026, marking exactly one year to the countdown of the tournament.
The tournament will feature 14 teams and 57 matches spread across 12 venues. Eight venues are located in South Africa, three in Zimbabwe and one in Namibia. The final is scheduled for November 21, 2027. Ticket ballot registration also opens on October 1, with tickets not going on immediate general sale.
Ten teams have
already secured their places ahead of the September 30, 2026 qualification cut-off. South Africa and Zimbabwe qualify automatically as co-hosts. Eight further teams earned their spots through the ICC ODI rankings: India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The remaining four places will be decided through Qualifiers scheduled for early 2027. West Indies are among the sides that must go through the qualification route.
With the schedule set to be confirmed, attention has turned to senior India players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom have spoken about their ambitions for the tournament.
What does Rohit Sharma want from the 2027 World Cup?
Rohit Sharma has been a central figure in India's recent ICC title wins. He was part of the squad that won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, which was played in the West Indies and the United States. India had gone 11 years without an ICC title before that triumph.
Rohit, speaking to the ICC, reflected on what winning a World Cup means to him.
"It'll be great to win the upcoming ODI World Cup. I wouldn't think about full circle and all that now. Winning a World Cup for India is a special feeling. I have experienced that twice in the T20 format. In 2007, I was just a young kid of 20 years. Of course, it's a big tournament; you've won a World Cup in your first year, it's great. Then we won the Champions Trophy in 2013, and after that there was a long period, almost for 11 years, where we couldn't win an ICC title.
"So that's why, when we won the T20 World Cup in 2024, there was a realisation of how important it was. So that feeling is still inside to a great extent. I know what winning a World Cup feels like. So that's why I want that feeling back. The fun we had, you can’t describe what that feeling is, because you can't match that. That's why winning that World Cup is very important to me, because I want to have that feeling again, which we felt recently," Rohit said.
What is Virat Kohli's goal for the 2027 World Cup?
Virat Kohli won the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup with India in 2011, 15 years before the 2027 edition. He has described the 2027 tournament as the last World Cup he will play for India, making it a significant personal milestone alongside the team objective.
Kohli has been direct about what he hopes to achieve in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
"I'm not in a place where I feel like, if it didn't happen earlier, I have to do it now. But for me, it's the last World Cup I'm going to play for India. And that is my motivation. Like, to leave everything out there. And of course, the goal is absolutely to win the World Cup. And whatever it takes, I'm absolutely ready. My goal is to win as many games as I can for the team and my dream is to play a match-winning knock in the finals while chasing a score; that would be ideal.
"If it happens, great. If it doesn't happen and we win the World Cup, I'll be just as happy because, eventually, you understand that, as much as that competitive nature is there, it's the last time you're getting to play in a World Cup. So, winning that trophy is the most important thing," Kohli expressed.
