LOC Board Chair Trevor Manuel gives update on 2027 Cricket World Cup

The LOC Board was announced almost a year ago in August 2025 but went under the radar since then, however Manuel says a fair amount of work has been done behind the scenes not only with the host cities but also in terms of logistics for the event. 

South Africa will stage the World Cup for the first time since 2003, and will host the bulk of the matches with Zimbabwe and Namibia also taking part in the festivities.

"On some of the issues like when and where to put out tenders you would've seen that the presentations form part of the work that has been done, you've got to construct the image and then execute. There's a lot of work that is done under the radar, take for instance ticketing and the issuing of Visas."

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South Africa will host matches in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Bloemfontein, Gqeberha, Durban, Cape Town, Paarl, and KuGompo City while Zimbabwe will contribute three stadiums in Bulawayo, Harare, and Victoria Falls. Namibia’s only host city will be Windhoek, and Manuel revealed that all the venues still have a bit of improvement needed before the world descends on Southern Africa in about 15 months from now. 

"All of the stadiums have work to be done, for some of the stadiums, pitches have been dropped in, so one has to test that and you'll only know at the end of the season how good those pitches are. Work is also underway at a few venues to upgrade the stands."

Manuel – a struggle stalwart in the country - spoke passionately about fighting the narrative that South Africa is a Xenophobic country, saying the recent incidents are a betrayal of the very motto on Coat of Arms of !ke e:xarra //ke which means united in diversity. 

He believes the collaboration with the two neighbouring countries will go a long way in mending those fences.