ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026 will be hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia

In cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the match schedule for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026, which will be jointly hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia from 15 January to 6 February 2026.

• In cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the match schedule for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026, which will be jointly hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia from 15 January to 6 February 2026. This competition will be played at five venues in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
• Sixteen teams will compete in 41 matches, with the final taking place on 6 February at Harare Sports Club. On the first day, India will face the USA, Zimbabwe will face Scotland, and Tanzania will make a historic debut in the tournament against the West Indies.
• For the second consecutive edition, India and Pakistan will not face each other in the group stage, as they have been placed in different groups. The competition format consists of four groups of four teams each, followed by the Super Six stage, semi-finals, and the title match in Harare.

Most winners

• Australia is the defending champion of this tournament, having defeated India in the 2024 final to win its fourth title. On the other hand, India is the most successful team in the history of this event, with five titles—2000, 2008, 2012, 2018, and 2022.
• Other winners include Pakistan (2004, 2006), South Africa (2014), West Indies (2016), and Bangladesh (2020).

ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup

• It is an international cricket tournament organized by the International Cricket Council. It was first played in 1988 as the Youth Cricket World Cup, but it was not held again until 1998. Since then, the World Cup has been held once every two years, organized by the ICC.
• The previous edition was organized from 19 January to 11 February 2024 in South Africa. It was the fifteenth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
• The first edition of the U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, then known as the Youth World Cup, was hosted to celebrate Australia’s bicentenary.

Curaçao Makes History as the Smallest Country to Qualify for the FIFA World Cup

• The Caribbean island of Curaçao created history, becoming the smallest country ever to qualify for the FIFA World Cup football. The entire island, with a population of barely 156,000 people, celebrated after a draw match against Jamaica in Kingston. For 90 tense minutes at the National Stadium, Curaçao withstood waves of Jamaican attacks.
• They topped Group B with 12 points in six matches, one point ahead of Jamaica. With 48 teams in next year’s World Cup, opportunities have opened up for emerging football nations, but Curaçao’s achievement still stands out the most.
• This record was held by Iceland, which reached the 2018 finals, but their country is much larger than Curaçao, with a population of slightly over 150,000 (the size of Cambridge or Huddersfield) and a land area of 171 square miles, which is smaller than the Isle of Man.
• Curaçao, 37 miles off the coast of Venezuela, became a country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands only in 2010 after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. Ten years ago they were ranked 150th in FIFA’s world rankings. Now they are ranked 82nd.