Top 7 World Cup teams will qualify for 2025 ICC Champions Trophy

The top seven sides at the end of the league stage of the ongoing Men's ODI World Cup 2023 in India will qualify for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, along with hosts Pakistan, to compete in the eight-team event, says a report.

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, which got approval from the ICC Board in 2021, is one of the eight men’s global tournaments that are scheduled to be held in 2024-31, quotes ESPNcricinfo talking to an ICC spokesperson.

It was back in November 2021, when ICC unveiled several global events for both men and women in the 2023-24 cycle including the 2025 and 2029 editions of the ICC Champions Trophy.

ICC issued a statement announcing "there would be an eight-team event and the tournament structure will follow previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals and final.”

The selection process also means that other Full Member nations like West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Ireland will not even have the opportunity to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy, since they didn’t qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup.

However, many cricket boards also confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that being unaware of the selection process they missed making it to the ODI World Cup.

The talk around ICC Champions Trophy qualification erupted 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.

The 2013 and 2017 editions of the Champions Trophy saw the top eight teams in the ODI rankings qualify 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 passed the recommendation.

Indo-Asian News Service