The Cricket World Cup is a global event, and qualification is used to reduce the large field of participants from about 100 to 10–14.
Pre-qualifying tournaments were held within the five ICC regional bodies (Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific, Europe), and organized by their respective councils.
While 12 teams participated in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier and the top 4 teams qualified for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, at the ICC Chief Executives' Committee meeting in September 2011, the ICC decided on a new qualifying format for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
Two teams from the top tier of the pre-qualifying tournament, the 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship, qualified directly and did not compete in the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which decided the remaining two places.
[3][4] For the 2019 World Cup, the host and the seven highest-ranked sides on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings as on 30 September 2017 qualified directly for the event proper.