Hosts Pakistan, top seven teams in 2023 World Cup to qualify for 2025 Champions Trophy: ICC

The top seven teams at the conclusion of the 2023 ODI World Cup league stage will secure qualification for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, to be played in Pakistan. Pakistan, meanwhile, will receive a direct qualification to the eight-team event on the basis of being the hosts of the 2025 edition. According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, an ICC spokesperson said that the qualification format for the 2025 Champions Trophy was approved by the ICC Board in 2021. It was in 2021 when the ICC had announced that the Champions Trophy, often termed as a “mini-World Cup” would return for the 2024-31 cricketing cycle. This would mean that teams like West Indies and Zimbabwe, who are Full Members of the ICC, would miss out on qualification. The ICC had in November 2021 announced multiple tournaments for men and women for the upcoming seven year cycle. This included two Champions Trophy tournaments, one in 2025 and the other in 2029. The ICC also informed that the tournament would follow the same format, with eight teams participating in a group stage format, followed by semi-finals and a final. It is also to be duly noted that in the 2013 and 2017 editions of the Champions Trophy, the top eight teams in the ICC rankings had qualified for the event. According to ESPNCrficinfo, the ICC chief executives committee had approved the decision of having the top seven teams in the 2023 World Cup qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy, along with hosts Pakistan. Pakistan are also defending champions of the tournament, having won the previous edition in 2017 after beating India by 180 runs at The Oval in Edgbaston.