Champions Trophy 2025 will be an eight-tournament and the structure “will follow previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals and final”

Champions Trophy 2025 berth at stake amid ICC World Cup 2023: report. The top seven sides at the conclusion of the group stage of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023, besides hosts Pakistan, will qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, ESPN Cricinfo reported Sunday.

Defending champions Pakistan will get a direct qualification, regardless of where the men in green finish their World Cup campaign, since they are the hosts of the eight-team tournament, which will mark its return after eight years.

According to the details, an ICC spokesperson confirmed to ESPN Cricinfo, that the qualification scenario for the Champions Trophy 2025 was approved by the ICC Board in 2021 when the multi-national tournament was brought back.

However, several nations’ cricket boards including those, who are not participating in the ongoing World Cup, were not aware of the Champions Trophy 2025 qualification being dependent on the results of the mega event.

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Consequently, notable cricketing nations like West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe, who failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup will not feature in the Champions Trophy 2025.

For the unversed, ICC, in November 2021, announced a series of international cricket competitions for both men and men in the 2024–2031 cycle, which also features the 2025 and 2029 Champions Trophy editions.

Moreover, the ICC had said in a statement that the Champions Trophy 2025 will be an eight-tournament and the structure “will follow previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals and final”.

It is worth mentioning here that for the 2013 and 2017 editions of the Champions Trophy, The top eight teams in the ODI rankings at a certain cut-off date were eligible to feature in the tournament.

Notably, the Champions Trophy 2025 qualification scenario was highlighted this week by Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan following his side’s upset defeat against the Netherlands.

“I mean, not the semi-final hope. It is not a semi-final possibility,” said Shakib.

At least, do a little better. Suppose, you have to be in the [top] ranking 8 if you want to play in the Champions Trophy. So, there are still three matches left considering that in mind.”