In a historic first, Italy qualifies for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026

The inevitable has happened. For the very first time, the Italy national cricket team will take part in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. The Italian team qualified for their first-ever Cricket World Cup on Friday (July 11). Italy, though they lost their ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier 2025 match to the Netherlands by 9 wickets at The Hague on Friday (July 11), secured a top-two finish, and thus they will be heading to India next year to compete in the 2026 edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup. The 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup will be hosted across venues in India and Sri Lanka in February and March next year.

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The Italian team, following their phenomenal performance in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier 2025, in which they defeated Scotland by 12 runs on July 9, would want to perform well at the shortest format mega-event next year. Italy and the Netherlands' qualification for T20 World Cup 2026 on Friday also came at the expense of a heartbreak for Jersey. The Jersey men's cricket team also ended the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier 2025 with five points from four games but ended third behind Italy because they had a poor net run rate.

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Had Italy beaten the Netherlands in the final match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier 2025 at Sportpark Westvliet in The Hague on Friday, Jersey would have been second in the points table and have qualified for the T20 World Cup 2026.