Hyderabad: ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 is all set to return after a prolonged gap of 8 years. The tournament commencing on February 19 will see eight teams competing for the silverware and iconic white jackets. The marquee event will be played in Pakistan and UAE, with India playing their all matches at the Dubai International Stadium.
This event will mark the first global tournament to be hosted by Pakistan after 28 years, since the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan side. The last major tournament to take place in the country was the 1996 Cricket World Cup which it co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka.
Breakdown of a grand prize money pool for #ChampionsTrophy 2025 🏆
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The last edition of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy was played in 2017 where Pakistan emerged triumphant in the final defeating two-time champions India by a massive 180-run margin. Here the question arises, despite it being a 10-15 day tournament, why it was not played in the last eight years. So, let's deep dive into the topic and understand the potential reasons behind it.
Why Champions Trophy 2025 Was Not Played In Last 8 Years:
From its inception in 1998 to 2006, the tournament was played every two years. The tournament was also originally scheduled in Pakistan from September 11 to 28, 2008, but due to the security fears expressed by several participating countries, it was held in 2009 in South Africa.
The number of teams competing has varied over the years; originally all the ICC's full members took part, and from 2000 to 2004 associate members were also involved. Since 2009, the hosts and the top seven highest-ranked teams have been eligible to qualify for the Champions Trophy. For instance, Pakistan, being the hosts of the 2006 edition, qualified for the tournament while then seven top-ranked teams -- India, South Africa, Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies took part.
From the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy onwards, the top eight teams of the most recent ICC Men's Cricket World Cup qualify for the event.
However, there is no clarity on why the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to host the Champions Trophy every four years after the 2009 edition, but surely there were calls to scrap the tournament after 2013 and 2017, with no tournament hosted in 2021.
Meanwhile, in 2013, the Champions Trophy was officially scrapped by the cricket's governing body. The ICC confirmed that they will be introducing the World Test Championship (WTC) from 2017 onwards. The main objective behind its decision to scrap the Champions Trophy is to have one pinnacle tournament for each of the three formats over four years. This also meant that the men's World Twenty20 or T20 World Cup will be held once every four years starting in 2016 instead of the current two-year interval.
During that time, there were several examples of the Test series being postponed due to conflicting demands, either from one-day cricket or the proliferation of Twenty20 leagues.
But, the Champions Trophy 2013 held in England received a great response from the fans, sparking the discussion that the tournament might live on after all but the ICC has stuck to its stated intent of moving on. "The ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales was highly acclaimed and appreciated by all. However, the principle of one pinnacle global event for each of the three formats over a four-year cycle is a good one and, as such, the ICC Board has agreed to replace the Champions Trophy with the ICC World Test Championship," David Richardson, then ICC chief executive, said.
"Now that the ICC World Test Championship has been confirmed, we'll work on the playing conditions and qualification criteria, and will submit these to the ICC Board for approval in due course," Richardson added.
However in November 2021, while revealing the 2024–2031 ICC men's tournaments hosts cycle, ICC announced that the tournament would return from 2025 onwards.
With the increasing popularity of T20 cricket and the aim to revive the old glory of Test cricket, it seems that ODI cricket is getting overlooked. This can be evident from the stat that India played only 3 ODIs in 2024. Hence, bringing back the Champions Trophy into the fray could boost the revival of the 50-over format.
