ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2029 expanded to 10 teams after success of 2025 edition with India's win

Only eight teams participated in ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.

Ten teams will compete in the next edition of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which will take place in 2029, according to confirmation from the International Cricket Council (ICC). This is a major step toward the tournament’s growth and worldwide reach.

The move, which was agreed upon by the ICC Board during its meeting in Dubai on Friday, intends to improve the competitive environment for women’s cricket on a global scale and provide growing countries more possibilities.

It comes after India won the event at home. 185 million people watched their 52-run victory over South Africa in the final on JioHotstar, surpassing the average daily reach of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and matching the audience of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final. The tournament’s overall reach of 446 million was the biggest in women’s cricket history.

“The ICC reaffirmed its commitment to the growth of women’s cricket and heralded the success of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 in India as testament to its long-standing faith in the women’s game. Nearly 300,000 fans watched the event in stadia, breaking the record for tournament attendance for any women’s cricket event.

The tournament also witnessed viewership growth and new records being set for on-screen audiences across the world, with nearly 500 million viewers in India. The ICC board, keen to build on the success of the event, agreed to expand the next edition of the tournament to 10 teams (from 8 teams in 2025),” said the ICC in its statement.

Focus on making cricket a success at the LA 2028 Olympics

In an effort to build on the event’s success, the ICC board decided to increase the number of teams in the tournament from eight in 2025 to ten in the following year.

As cricket expands its presence in the world of multisport, the Board examined the ICC’s continued involvement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28).

“The ICC received its first update on ‘Project USA,’ which was launched following the suspension of USA Cricket and in line with the ICC’s directive that the commercial and development interests of players in the US national teams should not be negatively impacted by the suspension of the Board due to non-compliance. The project is focused on building an optimized runway to cricket’s inclusion in the LA 2028 Olympic Games and enhancing performance pathways for the US national teams through ongoing participation in ICC events,” the statement added.

The ICC Board also ratified the appointment of a number of members of the ICC Women’s Cricket Committee, namely Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) CEO Ashley De Silva, legendary Indian batter Mithali Raj, Indian head coach Amol Muzumdar, New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyer, England head coach Charlotte Edwards, and Samoa Cricket CEO Sala Stella Siale-Vaea.

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