The road to the biggest ever ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2024 commences in June with the first qualifying events taking place in Europe.
These events mark the first step in the qualification process, eventually culminating in a record 20 teams competing at the landmark event in the USA and West Indies in 2024.
Over the next two years, teams from across the globe will battle it out in 15 pathway events, all with an eye on sealing a place on the world stage. 68 nations start their journey at Sub Regional qualifiers, with 28 teams entering at a later stage once the outcomes of this year's event in Australia are confirmed and the automatic qualifiers for 2024 are known.
The teams seeking to progress from the first step will be spread across 10 Sub Regional Qualifiers; 16 teams from Africa (two events), eight teams from the Americas (one event), nine teams from Asia (two events), seven teams from EAP (two events) in addition to the 28 teams competing from Europe across their three events.
"We are delighted to see a record number of teams competing for places at ICC events as the Men's T20 World Cup pathway begins in Europe. The T20 format continues to drive the growth of the game and over the next two years, we will see new teams competing in ICC events for the very first time," ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley said in a statement.
"A very warm welcome to Hungary, Romania and Serbia who are making their debut and thanks to Cricket Belgium and Cricket Finland for playing host to a record number of teams at this stage in qualification. I would like to wish all the competing teams every success as they begin their journey towards the USA and West Indies in 2024," he added.
Europe will be the first stop on the qualification calendar, as three Sub Regional Qualifiers unfold in the space of five weeks in Belgium and Finland. More teams are vying for qualification in the region than ever before, as 28 teams all begin their journey aiming to progress to the Europe Final in 2023 which is the last step of the qualification stage where the region's participating nations at the marquee men's event in 2024 will be determined.
Belgium will be the stage for the first event, where 20 matches will be played at the Ghent Oval and Royal Brussels Cricket Club between June 28 and July 4 in the Sub Regional Europe C qualifier. The host nation will feature alongside Denmark, Hungary and Gibraltar in Group 1, while Spain, Portugal, Malta and Israel compete in Group 2. Semi-finals and finals will subsequently be held, with the victor sealing a place in the Europe Regional final.
Qualification then moves on to Finland where grounds in Tikkurila and Kerava will host ICC tournament cricket for the very first time with back-to-back Sub Regional qualifiers, as 20 teams arrive to battle it out for qualification.
The first of the two events, Sub Regional Europe A qualifier will take place between July 12-19, and be made up of two groups; Group 1 consisting of hosts Finland, Italy, Sweden, Greece and Croatia, whereas Group 2 will feature Romania, Isle of Man, Cyprus, Turkey and Serbia.
The two groups of teams competing in the final Sub Regional Europe B Qualifier between 24-31 July will be Group 1 containing Guernsey, Austria, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Slovenia, with Group 2 featuring Norway, France, Czech Republic, Estonia and Switzerland.
In both events, the two group winners will progress to the final where the winning nation will earn a spot in the Europe final in 2023.
Once these events have drawn to a close, the focus will then move to other ICC regions towards the latter stages of 2022, where Vanuatu and Japan will prepare to host their Sub Regional qualifying events for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.
( With inputs from ANI )
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