The initial league began in 2007 with seven tournaments over five global divisions, based upon previous world rankings. This was expanded into eight separate divisions for the 2009–14 edition. In the first cycle, the number of teams in each tournament varied from six to twelve. With the advent of the second cycle, the number of teams was regularised to six for each tournament, with the exception of the lowest division, Division 8, in which eight teams played. As from 2015, the number of divisions was again reduced to just five. When most of the divisions are played, two teams will be promoted, two relegated and two remain for the next instalment. At the end of each cycle, a World Cup Qualifier is played. In 2018, this featured the four lowest teams of those holding ‘Full’ status, together with six ’Associate’ nations namely the four who were still in Division One, plus the top two from Division Two. The two last-placed teams in that World Cup Qualifier lost their ODI status and were relegated into Division Two. Regional tournaments, which act as qualifiers for the lowest division of the World League, are administered by the five development regions of the International Cricket Council: Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific, and Europe.
In late 2005, the International Cricket Council ranked the top non-Test nations from 11–30 to complement the Test nations' rankings in the ICC ODI Championship. The ICC used the results from the 2005 ICC Trophy and WCQS Division 2 competition to rank the nations. These rankings were used to seed the initial stage of the global World Cricket League. Teams ranked 11–16 were placed into Division 1; teams 17–20 were placed into Division 2; teams 21–24 were placed into Division 3; the remaining teams were placed into the upper divisions of their respective regional qualifiers. In 2005, six associates were assigned One Day International status, based on their performance at the preceding World Cup Qualifier. In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland were both promoted to "Full" status, leaving only four associate nations with ODI-status: after mid-March 2018 these were Scotland, Netherlands, UAE, and Nepal. Netherlands, as winners of the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship, have qualified for a place in the 2020–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League. In May 2009, the ICC added a rankings table for the associate and affiliate members containing both global and regional placings. In 2016 this changed to maintain a global list only for the top teams and a set of regional lists for the remaining teams.
Rankings
The global rankings of associate teams according to ICC are published in the table below. Teams that have One Day International status are now included on the main ICC ODI Championship and are listed in the order they appear on that table. The other teams are ranked by their finishing position in the most recent qualifying tournament in associate nations add 4 ODI status teams after in associate nations ODI ranking after wcl2 in Namibia. The rankings after 2018 WCL3 are:
Division
Rank
Nation
Region
Regional Rank
ODI Status
13
Europe
1
ODI Status
14
Asia
1
ODI Status
15
Asia
2
ODI Status
16
Europe
2
ODI Status
17
Africa
1
ODI Status
18
Asia
3
ODI Status
19
EAP
1
ODI Status
20
Americas
1
Division 2
21
Americas
2
Division 2
22
Asia
4
Division 3
23
Asia
5
Division 3
24
Africa
2
Division 3
25
Europe
3
Division 3
26
Africa
3
Division 4
27
Asia
6
Division 4
28
Europe
4
Division 4
29
EAP
2
Division 4
30
Americas
3
Division 5
31
Asia
7
Division 5
32
Europe
5
Division 5
33
Europe
6
Division 5
34
Europe
7
Division 5
35
Africa
4
Division 5
36
Americas
4
Regional rankings
Teams that do not participate in the World Cricket League are ranked by their finishing positions in their respective regional leagues:
