Japan Cricket Association (JCA) will be hosting the 2028 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup EAP (East Asia-Pacific) Qualifier from May 08th – 18th, 2026 at Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin City (hosting groups 1 and 3 in the initial group stage) and the Sano International Cricket Ground (hosting Group 2). JCA will be hosting the Men’s National teams of Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Philippines, Samoa, South Korea and Vanuatu in the competition in the similar format, which was adopted during the Asia-EAP combined Qualifier held for the 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup.
The tournament format changes from the previous format of having two (2) sub-regional qualifiers in the EAP region. PNG, Japan and Samoa competed in the previous Asia-EAP Qualifier held in Oman in 2025. Group 1 will feature teams from Japan, Fiji and Vanuatu, while Group 2 will feature teams from Samoa, Philippines and Indonesia. The final group will consist of teams from Papua New Guinea, South Korea and Cook Islands. The top two (3) teams from each group in the points table at the end of the single round-robin group stage format will advance to the Super Six stage.
Total qualification spots from the EAP Qualifier has not yet been confirmed by ICC and will be announced beforehand. The three (3) teams that are eliminated in the group stage will play matches against each other in each of the Super Six match-days, hence, ensuring that each team get to play enough fixtures before they depart Japan, as available of fixtures for the remainder of the year may not be much for some of these teams.
2028 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup EAP (East Asia-Pacific) Qualifier Schedule (Group Stage)
08th May 2026: Philippines vs Indonesia ; Fiji vs Vanuatu ; Cook Islands vs South Korea
09th May 2026: Indonesia vs Samoa ; Japan vs Vanuatu ; South Korea vs Papua New Guinea
10th May 2026: Papua New Guinea vs Cook Islands ; Samoa vs Philippines ; Japan vs Fiji