Have you ever wondered why India tours New Zealand in October, why England plays at home in June, or why the Ashes always seem to land in the same part of the year? The answer is a document called the Future Tours Programme, or FTP.
The FTP is the ICC's multi-year register of international cricket fixtures. It is not a fixture list imposed by the ICC from above. It is a record of agreements between cricket boards, published together so that every board, broadcaster, player and fan can see who is playing whom, and when.
What the FTP Actually Is
The FTP covers bilateral series, tests, ODIs and T20Is between full member boards, plus the windows for ICC global events. The current men's cycle, covering 2023 to 2027, was announced in August 2022.
That cycle listed 777 international matches across 12 Full Members: 173 Tests, 281 ODIs and 323 T20Is. That was an increase from 694 matches in the previous cycle, which ran from 2019 to 2023.
The FTP also has a longer-term objective, known as the Ten Year Plan: over a ten-year period, each team should play each other team at least once at home and once away. Boards can agree to play each other more often than that if they wish, and the biggest rivalries, such as the Ashes and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, regularly do.
A women's FTP was also announced for the first time in August 2022, the day before the men's FTP, giving the women's game the same kind of long-term certainty.
Who Decides the Fixtures?
The individual boards decide, in pairs. Two boards agree on a tour between them and settle the format split and the dates, and that agreement is then entered into the FTP so the rest of the world can plan around it.
The ICC's role is different. It protects the windows for its own global events, such as World Cups, T20 World Cups and the Champions Trophy, and it holds the register. It does not allocate bilateral fixtures to boards.
That is why the FTP lists series commitments, but the exact dates and venues of a series are usually announced by the host board closer to the time, often a few months before the tour begins. A series that appears in the FTP as "India tour of New Zealand, October-November 2026" will only get its full fixture list, with stadiums and start times, when the host board publishes it.
The Building Blocks of the Calendar
The calendar is built from four layers, stacked on top of each other.
The first layer is the ICC events cycle. Since 2024, each four-year cycle includes a men's Cricket World Cup, a women's Cricket World Cup, a Champions Trophy, two men's T20 World Cups, two women's T20 World Cups, and Under-19 World Cups. These events get fixed windows first, because they involve many teams and need long lead times for venues, travel and broadcast.
The second layer is the World Test Championship. The WTC gives the bilateral test series a league context. In the 2023-25 and 2025-27 cycles, most WTC series were two or three tests long, with the Ashes and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as five-test exceptions. WTC points are decided by percentage of points won, so a two-Test series and a five-Test series both matter, even if they are very different in length.
The third layer is bilateral white-ball cricket. ODI and T20I series are often played alongside Tests on the same tour or as standalone tours. The ODI series also feeds into World Cup qualification in some cycles through rankings and, in earlier cycles, through a Super League, while the T20I series are often used as preparation for a T20 World Cup.
The fourth layer is domestic franchise cricket. The IPL is the only T20 league with a dedicated window in the current FTP. Other leagues, such as the Big Bash, cribet99 SA20, The Hundred, ILT20 and the Caribbean Premier League, fit around international cricket, rather than having a protected window of their own. That tension between franchise leagues and international cricket is one of the biggest debates in the modern calendar.
Why Seasons Look the Way They Do
Cricket is a summer game, and the seasons are opposite in the two hemispheres. That simple fact shapes the whole calendar.
The English and northern European season runs roughly from April to September. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the subcontinent play their home international cricket in the northern hemisphere winter, roughly from October to March. That is why touring sides move between hemispheres and why the two halves of the year feel different: the English summer is crowded with home tests and white-ball series, while the Southern summer is crowded with tours to Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the subcontinent.
Weather also matters within a country. India play most of their home cricket from October to March, avoiding the monsoon and the peak summer heat. New Zealand play from October to March as well, while South Africa's home season runs through their summer, from around November to March.
Why the Calendar Feels So Crowded
Three things have been added on top of bilateral cricket without anything being removed: an ICC global event in most years, championship structures that give bilateral series league context, and domestic franchise competitions that occupy blocks of the year.
Each was justified on its own terms, and the total is the sum of decisions nobody made together. That is why players, coaches and administrators now talk constantly about workload, rest and rotation, and why boards are increasingly selective about which series their star players play in full.
The next FTP, covering 2027 to 2031, was reported in October 2026 to be structured along the same lines as the current cycle, rather than broadened with new ICC-organised competitions. Plans for a World Club Championship and other new multilateral events were shelved after objections from England, Australia and India, who argued that the calendar is already full.
How to Read an FTP Announcement
When a new FTP is announced, fans should look for five things.
First, the total number of matches and the split between Tests, ODIs and T20Is, which shows whether a board is prioritising one format over another.
Second, the five-test series, which are reserved for the biggest rivalries and tell you which series the boards value most.
Third, the ICC event windows, which are the fixed points around which everything else is built.
Fourth, the balance of home and away series, which shows whether a team is playing more at home than away in a cycle.
Fifth, what is missing. A series that is not in the FTP is not a certainty, and a series that is in the FTP can still change its dates, venues or format split before it is played.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the ICC Future Tours Programme?
It is the multi-year register of bilateral international fixtures agreed upon between full member boards, published as a single document so everybody can see who is playing whom and when.
Who decides the cricket schedule?
The individual boards do so in pairs. Two boards agree on a tour and settle the formats and dates, and the agreement is entered into the FTP. The ICC protects windows for its own global events and holds the register.
How many matches are in the current men's FTP?
The 2023 to 2027 cycle listed 777 matches: 173 Tests, 281 ODIs and 323 T20Is, up from 694 in the previous cycle.
Does the FTP fix exact dates and venues?
No. It fixes series commitments. Exact dates and venues are announced by the host board closer to the tour.
What is the next FTP cycle?
The next cycle covers 2027 to 2031, and reports in October 2026 indicated it would follow the same structure as the current cycle, with no new ICC tournaments added.
