South American Men’s T20I Championship 2026: Schedule, & Teams

The South American Men’s T20I Championship 2026 runs from August 6 to August 9 at the Los Pinos Polo Club in Bogotá, Colombia.

Six teams take part, and Mexico arrive as defending champions after winning the 2025 edition.

This guide breaks down the schedule, squads, format and the title history behind the trophy, so you get the full picture in one place.

South American Men’s T20I Championship 2026 at a Glance

Here are the core facts before we get into the detail.

Colombia last hosted the event back in 2018, when Mexico won on home soil for the hosts at the very same Bogotá venue. Eight years on, they get another shot at the trophy in front of a home crowd.

South American Men’s T20I Championship 2026 Full Schedule

The league phase runs across three days, and the knockouts wrap everything up on day four. Here’s how it’s laid out.

Two matchups jump out early. Mexico face Panama on the opening day, a repeat of a fixture from the 2025 Central American Championship, and Brazil open against Peru, a rivalry that goes back to the very first edition of this competition in 1995.

One quirk worth knowing before you settle in to watch: matches involving hosts Colombia and debutants Turks and Caicos Islands reportedly won’t carry official T20I ranking-points status, based on the schedule listed on the ICC’s website. Both sides can still win the trophy. Their results just won’t move the needle on the global T20I team rankings.

How the Tournament Format Works

All six sides play in a single round-robin league across the first three days. The top four then advance straight into the semi-finals on the final day, with the winners meeting in the final that evening.

It’s a tight turnaround. Teams could play a group match in the morning and a knockout tie less than 24 hours later, so squad depth and quick recovery matter as much as raw talent here.

Net run rate typically decides final league standings when teams finish level on points, a common tiebreaker across ICC Americas events. Expect a few tense equations on the morning of August 9 if the group stage stays close.

Teams and Squads for the 2026 Championship

Four of the six squads were already public at the time of writing. Colombia and Turks and Caicos Islands hadn’t released their final touring parties, so treat those two as squads to watch for closer to the opening game.

Mexico (Defending Champions)

Mexico arrive under new leadership, with Pratik Singh taking over the captaincy and Dhananjaya Panda as his deputy. The rest of the touring party includes Mohit Sharma, Siddharth Tallapragada, Emanuel Gutierrez, Matthew Noble, Bhargav Miriyala, Waseem Tabrez, Yashvanth Jasti and Devon Ebersohn. This is the group defending the title Mexico won in Brazil last November, and they’ll want to prove that win wasn’t a one-off.

Brazil

Hosts of last year’s edition, Brazil now travel as one of the form teams in the region. Michel Assunção captains the side, with Luiz Müller as vice-captain and Lucas Maximo and Chrystian Machado sharing wicketkeeping duties. The squad also features Riquelmi Verni Nascimento, Willian Maximo, Breno Passoni, Gabriel Oliveira, Caique Cirino, Luiz Morais, Yasar Haroon, Luiz Augusto Gonçalves, Luiz Gabriel Moras, Felipe Muniz and Richard Avery. Assunção’s promotion to captain is a change from 2023, when Greigor Caisley led the side, so this is a slightly reshaped Brazil compared to recent editions.

Panama

Panama head into 2026 as one of the region’s genuine success stories. They won their maiden South American title in 2024, beating hosts Brazil by 26 runs in the final, and their squad still leans heavily on the Ahir family that made that win possible. Anilkumar Natubhai Ahir captains and keeps wicket, alongside Rizwan Mangera, Irfan Hafejee, Sohel Patel, Faizan Patel, Ahmed Patel, Parth Jayeshbhai Patel, Dilip Dahyabhai Ahir, Sagar Kumar Ahir, Sohel Ebrahim Desai and Abdulla Bhoola.

Peru

Peru bring a mixed squad of experienced campaigners and fresh faces: Samarth Narula, Joaquin Salazar, Erick Cajahuaman, Rohan Kumar Punjabi, Elias Braulio, Ross Hardie, Pravin Shamdasani, Hafez Farooq, Suresh Kumar, Gabriel Lozana, Nikhil Deshmukh, Richard Chatterton, Ram Singh, Tom Davies, Wildalr Lozano, Ramses Cespedes, Harshil Brahmbhatt and Roshan De Silva. Several of these names have featured across multiple South American and Central American events, so there’s no shortage of tournament know-how in this group.

Colombia (Hosts)

Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time since 2018, Colombia go in as the least experienced of the four ICC Americas-established sides at this level. Their squad wasn’t confirmed at the time of writing, so check back closer to August 6 for the final lineup.

Turks and Caicos Islands (Debutants)

Turks and Caicos Islands make their first appearance in this tournament, a little over a year after returning to international cricket following a 16-year absence at the 2025 Central American Championship. Their squad for Bogotá hadn’t been announced publicly at the time of writing.

Defending Champions and Title History

Mexico head into 2026 as defending champions, and this is actually their third South American title overall, after wins in 2014 and 2018.

The 2025 edition was a small, three-team affair hosted in Brazil. Mexico, Panama and Brazil played a single round-robin, and it came down to the last match. Mexico beat Brazil by 54 runs on November 2, 2025, at Seropédica, which was enough to top the table and take the trophy, since Panama’s two group games both ended in no result.

That’s a very different picture from the year before. The 2024 edition was an eight-team event split into two groups, and Panama won their maiden title, beating hosts Brazil by 26 runs in a final where eight of their starting XI shared the surname Ahir. It made Panama the fifth different men’s champion in the competition’s history, and only the second side from outside South America to win it, after Mexico.

Argentina remain the most successful team by a distance, with 12 titles since the tournament began in 1995. They won the first three editions without losing a single game. They’re absent from Bogotá though, marking the second consecutive year they haven’t sent a team.

Here’s how the last few editions have gone:

The field size has swung wildly in recent years too, from eight teams in 2024 down to just three in 2025, and now back up to six for Bogotá. Cricket in South America clearly hasn’t settled into a fixed rhythm yet, and that’s part of what makes this region fun to follow.

Players to Watch in South American Men’s T20I Championship 2026

A few names carry real pedigree into this edition. Yasar Haroon of Brazil finished the 2022 tournament with 11 wickets, a joint-tournament-high return, and he’s still a key part of the bowling attack four years on.

Panama’s Khandubhai Ahir was Player of the Match in the 2024 final with a 32-ball 40, though he isn’t part of the touring squad named for this edition. Keep an eye instead on captain Anilkumar Natubhai Ahir, who keeps wicket and anchors a batting lineup still built around the Ahir surname.

For Mexico, new captain Pratik Singh takes on extra responsibility after the leadership change, right as his side tries to defend the title for the first time since 2018.

Where to Watch the South American Men’s T20I Championship 2026

Streaming details for this specific edition weren’t officially confirmed at the time of writing. Recent editions of the South American Men’s Championship, including 2023, were streamed live on FanCode, and coverage typically comes with geo-restrictions depending on where you’re watching from.

Check FanCode or Cricket Colombia’s official channels closer to August 6 for confirmed broadcast and streaming links.

Final Word: South American Men’s T20I Championship 2026 Scheduled between August 6 to August 9

Bogotá gets six teams, a new-look Mexico side defending the crown, and a tournament that’s grown, shrunk and grown again over the past three years. Between the title history and the round-robin format, there’s plenty on the line before the final on August 9.