LONDON: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced that Pakistan would host the Men’s Champions Trophy in February 2025, which means that they will defend their title, won in 2017, in their own backyard.
In a statement, the global cricket body confirmed the 14 host countries of the ICC men’s white-ball events from 2024-2031. 11 Full Members and three Associate Members have been selected to host two ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups, four ICC Men’s T20 World Cups and two ICC Men’s Champions Trophy events.
Pakistan last staged an ICC event in 1996 when they co-hosted the 50-over World Cup with India and Sri Lanka, but the country has been largely starved of international cricket since the 2009 attack on the touring Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore.
Reacting to the development, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja said that “it’s a matter of great pride and delight that Pakistan will be hosting ICC Champions Trophy 2025”.
It’s a matter of great pride and delight that Pakistan will be hosting ICC Champions Trophy 2025. This great news will surely excite millions of Pakistani fans, expats and world fans to see great teams and players in action and will allow the world to sample our hospitality.
— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) November 16, 2021
“This great news will surely excite millions of Pakistani fans, expats and world fans to see great teams and players in action and will allow the world to sample our hospitality,” Ramiz Raja added.
Who will host what?
The hosts were selected via a competitive bidding process overseen by a Board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden along with Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Skerritt.
The ICC Board accepted the recommendations of the committee who conducted a thorough review of each bid along with ICC management. A similar process to identify the hosts for ICC Women’s and U19s events for the next cycle will be undertaken early next year.
“In June 2024, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will go somewhere it has never been before, with USA hosting the event alongside the West Indies,” the ICC said in the statement.
In 2026, India and Sri Lanka will host the Men’s T20 World Cup, before another first-time major event host in 2027. In October/November 2027, Namibia will host the Men’s Cricket World Cup for the first time alongside Zimbabwe and South Africa. South Africa and Zimbabwe last staged the event in 2003.
In October 2028 the T20 World Cup will be played in Australia and New Zealand and 12 months later India will host the Champions Trophy. In 2030, England will share T20 World Cup hosting duties with Ireland and Scotland. It will be the first time since 1999 that Ireland and Scotland have hosted a major global cricket event.
The final scheduled event, in October/November 2031, will be the Men’s Cricket World Cup, played in India and Bangladesh.
2024 T20 World Cup: USA and West Indies
2025 Champions Trophy: Pakistan
2026 T20 World Cup: India and Sri Lanka
2027 ODI World Cup: Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa
2028 T20 World Cup: Australia and New Zealand
2029 Champions Trophy: India
2030 T20 World Cup: England, Ireland and Scotland
2031 ODI World Cup: India and Bangladesh
