Dubai,  The road to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2024, scheduled to be held in the US and the West Indies, will kick off in June with the first set of qualifying events emanating from Europe.

This will be the start of the pathway towards the biggest Men's T20 World Cup, which is set to feature a record 20 teams.

The eight top-performing teams at the Men's T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia alongside hosts USA and West Indies will automatically qualify for the 2024 edition of the marquee tournament. The next highest-ranked teams in the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings as of November 14, 2022 will make up the 12 automatic qualifying spots.

The remaining eight spots will be decided by the regional qualifier events - two teams from each of Africa, Asia and Europe will qualify for the event, while the Americas and EAP regions will each have one team progress to the World Cup.

A total of 66 nations from across the globe - 14 teams from Africa (across two events), eight teams from the Americas (across two events), nine teams from Asia (across two events), seven teams from EAP (across two events) and 28 teams from Europe (across three events) - will fight it out over the next two years in the hopes of qualifying for the marquee event in 2024.

Amongst the 66 teams are Hungary, Romania and Serbia, who are all set to make their debut during the pathway 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," said Chris Tetley, ICC Head of Events.

"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.

Qualifier Event Schedule:

Event - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe C Qualifier
Host - Belgium
Dates - June 28 - July 4
Participating Teams - (8 teams) Belgium, Denmark, Gibraltar, Hungary, Israel, Malta, Portugal, Spain

Event - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe A Qualifier
Host - Finland
Dates - July 12 - 19
Participating Teams - (10) Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Isle of Man, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey

Event - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe B Qualifier
Host - Finland
Dates - July 24 - 31
Participating Teams - (10) Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Guernsey, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland

Event - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional EAP A Qualifier
Host - Vanuatu
Dates - September 9 - 15
Participating Teams - (4) Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu

Event - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional EAP B Qualifier
Host - Japan
Dates - October 15 - 18
Participating Teams - (3) Indonesia, Japan, South Korea

Event - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa A Qualifier
Host - TBC
Dates - November 15 - 24
Participating Teams - (8) Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi

Event - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa B Qualifier
Host - TBC
Dates - November 30 - December 6
Participating Teams - (8) Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda St. Helena, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania