The top seven sides at the end of the league stage of the ongoing ODI World Cup in India will qualify for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy along with hosts Pakistan to compete in the eight-team event.
An ICC spokesperson confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the qualification system for the 2025 Champions Trophy was approved by the ICC Board in 2021, when the competition was brought back as one of the eight men’s global tournaments to be held in the 2024-31 cycle.
The development has come as a surprise to a few boards – both whose teams are in India as well as others who missed making it to the ODI World Cup – who told ESPNcricinfo that they were unaware about qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy being at stake in this tournament.
This also means that other Full-Member nations like West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland will not even have the opportunity to qualify for the tournament, by virtue of not having made it to the 2023 ODI World Cup.
The matter came to light after Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan made comments referencing the Champions Trophy in a press conference, which indicated that he was at least aware that qualification was at stake.
In November 2021, the ICC had unveiled several global events for both men and women in the new cycle (2024-31) including two editions of the Champions Trophy – in 2025 and 2029. In a media statement, the ICC had said that the Champions Trophy would be an eight-team event and the tournament structure “will follow previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals and final”.
For the 2013 and 2017 editions of the Champions Trophy, the top eight teams in the ODI rankings at a cut-off date qualified for the event. It is understood that the decision to have the top seven teams at this World Cup for the 2025 Champions Trophy was approved originally by the ICC’s chief executives committee following which the ICC Board ratified the recommendation.
More to follow…