The Women's T20 World Cup is an international cricket competition which sees the world's best teams battle it out in the shortest format of the game.
The 2026 edition will be the tenth time the tournament has been played, with England the hosting nation for the first time since the inaugural 2009 tournament.
New Zealand are the defending champions following their victory in the UAE in 2024.
Dates
This year's Women's T20 World Cup will begin on Friday 12th June with the action running until the final which is scheduled for Sunday 5th July.
Venues
There are a total of seven venues selected in across England for the 2026 event:
Venue | City | Capacity | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
Edgbaston Cricket Ground | Birmingham | 25,000 | 4 |
County Ground | Bristol | 17,500 | 6 |
Headingley Cricket Ground | Leeds | 18,350 | 5 |
Lord's | London | 31,100 | 4 |
The Oval | London | 27,500 | 3 |
Old Trafford Cricket Ground | Manchester | 26,000 | 5 |
Rose Bowl | Southampton | 25,000 | 6 |
Format
There are 12 teams competing at this year's tournament and they have been split into two groups of six. Each nation plays the other teams in their group once and the top two in each pool advance through to the semi-finals.
The two group winners then face the runners up from the opposing group in the semi-finals and the winner of those matches go on to contest the final.
Teams
The 12 teams that have qualified for the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup have been split into the following groups.
Group A
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- India
- Netherlands
- Pakistan
- South Africa
Group B
- England
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- Scotland
- Sri Lanka
- West Indies
History
The 2026 Women's T20 World Cup will be the tenth time the competition has been staged, with the inaugural event taking place in England in 2009.
The last edition took place in 2024, when New Zealand beat South Africa in the final, the second time in consecutive tournaments that the Proteas had finished as runners-up.
Previous Winners
Australia have dominated the shortest-format of the international game, winning the T20 World Cup on no fewer than six occasions.
The Aussies won the tournament three times in a row - between 2010 and 2014 - before collecting the trophy again in 2018.
Australia retained their title on home soil in 2020, when they beat India in the final, before making it three in a row in South Africa in 2023.
There have only been three other winners of the women’s international T20 tournament in the eight editions to date - England, West Indies and New Zealand.
England hosted and won the first event in 2009, beating New Zealand in the final, and have been runners-up on three occasions.
The Windies won their only title in India in 2016, with Hayley Matthews smashing 66 from 45 balls to help them beat the Aussies by eight wickets in Kolkata.
New Zealand have twice been beaten in the final before they 2024 success, while India and South Africa are the only other two teams to make the showpiece finale.
