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 in due course of time (Discussions ongoing related to this matter). 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.
Super6 Schedule
12th May 2026: Samoa vs Vanuatu (Scorecard) ; Japan vs Indonesia (Scorecard)
13th May 2026: Papua New Guinea vs Samoa (Scorecard) ; Vanuatu vs Cook Islands (Scorecard)
14th May 2026: Indonesia vs Papua New Guinea (Scorecard) ; Cook Islands vs Japan (Scorecard)
16th May 2026: Vanuatu vs Indonesia (Scorecard) ; Japan vs Samoa (Scorecard)
17th May 2026: Indonesia vs Cook Islands (Scorecard) ; Papua New Guinea vs Vanuatu (Scorecard)
18th May 2026: Samoa vs Cook Islands (Scorecard) ; Japan vs Papua New Guinea (Scorecard)
Men’s T20I Tri-series Schedule
12th – 13th May 2026: South Korea vs Philippines (Scorecard) ; Fiji vs South Korea (Scorecard)
14th – 16th May 2026: Philippines vs Fiji (Scorecard) ; South Korea vs Philippines (Scorecard)
17th – 18th May 2026: Fiji vs South Korea (Scorecard) ; Philippines vs Fiji (Scorecard)
2028 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup EAP (East Asia-Pacific) Qualifier Schedule (Group Stage)
08th May 2026: Philippines vs Indonesia (Scorecard) ; Fiji vs Vanuatu (Scorecard) ; Cook Islands vs South Korea (Scorecard)
09th May 2026: Indonesia vs Samoa (Scorecard) ; Japan vs Vanuatu (Scorecard) ; South Korea vs Papua New Guinea (Scorecard)
10th May 2026: Papua New Guinea vs Cook Islands (Scorecard) ; Samoa vs Philippines (Scorecard) ; Japan vs Fiji (Scorecard)
2 thoughts on “Japan Cricket to host 2028 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier in May 2026”
ICC EAP Qualifier in last days noow but still dont know how many team will qialify?
Ask some players of Japan, indonesia, PNG, etc…. I am sure they know what they are playing for.
Japan beat PNG first ever time. How many teams going to Asia EAP Qualifier from here.
I heard talks are there that EAP Qualifier winner directly goes to Wt20 2028.
Japan beat PNG but are no. 2 in table as they both end with 10 points but PNG had better NRR. Isnt tema beating other giving president over NRR.