The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the qualification scenario for the 2025 Champions Trophy, which Pakistan will host, reported ESPN Cricinfo on Sunday.
The top seven sides — excluding Pakistan since they are the hosts — in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 will book their spot for the ICC event in 2025.
An ICC spokesperson confirmed to ESPN Cricinfo that the system for the qualification scenario was approved by the ICC Board in 2021 when the competition was brought back as the eight-team tournament to be held in the 2024-31 cycle.
However, several team boards — teams who couldn't make it to the World Cup after failing to qualify — were not told by the ICC that the qualification in the 2025 Champions Trophy would be dependent on the results of the mega event. As such, teams like Zimbabwe, Ireland and West Indies will not be able to play the eight-team tournament in 2025.
It is worth mentioning that in November 2021, the ICC announced a number of global cricketing events for men and women in the 2024-31 cycle, which also includes the two editions of the Champions Trophy, 2025 and 2029.
It must be noted that the previous two editions of the Champions Trophy in 2013 and 2017, which were won by India and Pakistan respectively, included the top-eight teams in the ICC ODI's rankings.
One Full Member board also confirmed to the source that the 2027 World Cup will be a 14-team tournament, co-hosted by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe where the qualification scenario is that the top-eight ranked teams in the ICC rankings will qualify, with four teams making their way after playing global qualifier tournaments, while Zimbabwe and South Africa will qualify as the hosts.
After the Netherlands beat Bangladesh in an upset at the World Cup on Saturday, it was highlighted by the latter's skipper, Shakib Al Hasan, that even though his side is out of contention to qualify for the semi-final, he will try to finish in the top 8.
"I mean, not the semi-final hope. It is not a semi-final possibility," Shakib said. "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."