The ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup will be held in Malaysia at the beginning of 2025, with 16 teams competing for the title of champion.
Although the tournament’s second edition begins on January 18 and ends on February 2, some countries have been participating for much longer.
With regional q ualifiers taking place around Africa, Asia, East Asia Pacific, and Europe, teams have been fighting for tickets to Malaysia for the previous few months.
Here is how the teams qualified:
Automatic Qualification
Eleven teams, starting with Malaysia as the host nation, automatically qualified for the 2025 competition. Malaysia will be participating for the first time after missing the first tournament in 2023 due to their loss in the Asia Qualifier, which they hosted.
Alongside them are the top 10 full member teams from the 2023 competition, whose performances in South Africa guaranteed them a position in the following years.
Indian champions will so return to defend their championship, while England, the runners-up in 2023, will be hoping to advance this time.
The previous round’s defeated semi-finalists, Australia and New Zealand, are joined in automatic qualification by Bangladesh, Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies, all of whom advanced to the Super Six stage.
Africa Qualifier
After winning the Africa Qualifier, Nigeria became the first Nigerian women’s team to earn a spot in the ICC World Cup.
Following a previous qualifying round that decided Malawi and Kenya would be included in the eight-team qualifying tournament, Nigeria advanced to the semi-finals by winning all three of their matches against Tanzania, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
They were joined by Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Uganda, who also won all three of their group matches.
In the semi-final, Nigeria defeated the hosts Rwanda by 62 runs. They then met Zimbabwe in the final, which was called off in the second innings because of rain.
Because Nigeria outperformed Zimbabwe in the group stage, they advanced to the World Cup in Malaysia.
Asia Qualifier
There were four teams competing in the Asia Qualifier, and Nepal won the double round-robin tournament.
With five victories in six games against Kuwait, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal edged out the UAE for first place thanks to a higher net run rate.
The UAE prevailed by 13 runs in the first meeting between the two teams in Dubai, but Nepal remained composed to win the second encounter by eight wickets.
The match’s MVP With the ball, Krishma Gurung scored four for 17 to limit the UAE to 83 for nine, which Nepal raced down in 14.4 overs to secure their spot in Malaysia.
East-Asia Pacific
Four teams competed in the East-Asia Pacific Qualifier for a spot in the 2025 ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup.
In May, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji competed in a week-long double round-robin tournament alongside hosts Indonesia. Samoa qualified after winning five of their six games.
Samoa only lost to Papua New Guinea, who ultimately ended in third. To advance, the group winners defeated Indonesia, who came in second, twice.
Samoa defeated Indonesia by two wickets in the first match thanks in large part to Olive Lefaga’s three-for-13 stint. Silepea Polataivao concluded with six for 15 as Samoa won the second match by eight runs.
Europe
Scotland qualified for the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025 after defeating the Netherlands in a three-match series.
Mollie Parker’s three for eight with the ball helped Scotland win the first of their three games in August in Aberdeen by 10 wickets.
The series ended with a 64-run triumph, with batswoman Emma Walsingham stealing the show with 73 not out off 49 balls. A day later, they secured qualification with a six-wicket victory.
Americas
Since the United States of America was the only country in the region to meet the requirements, they were automatically eligible to compete in the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025.
Before losing to Scotland in the fourth-place play-offs, the USA placed fourth in Group A at the 2023 competition.
India
