ICC Champions Trophy: Everything you need to know about the tournament

The International Cricket Council (ICC) wanted to develop the game in the non-Test playing nations. As a result, the ICC came up with the idea of organising a tournament, which would be known as the ICC Knockout Trophy.

The tournament was held in 1998 in Bangladesh and it included the 9 full member nations of the ICC. South Africa were crowned champions of the inaugural edition by beating the West Indies in the final.



The competition was once staged in 2000, this time in Kenya to popularise the sport there.

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All the 9 Test playing nations plus the top 2 associate nations at the time Bangladesh and hosts Kenya were the participants. New Zealand were the champions of the competition by defeating India in the final. The 1998 and the 2000 editions were in a direct knockout format.

In 2002, the competition returned under a new name the ICC Champions Trophy. It was initially to be held in India, however, it was shifted to Sri Lanka as India refused to grant the exemption from tax. The ten Test-playing nations plus the associate nations Kenya and the Netherlands participated.

This tournament had a round-robin stage with four pools of 3 teams each. Then the knockouts would follow with the first-placed team from each of the 4 pools playing in the semi-finals. Notably, the final which was held on the 29th of September 2002 was suspended due to rain and moved to the 30th of September.


However, as per the ICC rules, 25 overs were not bowled to the side batting second due to rain, the trophy was shared and India and Sri Lanka became the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy.

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The 2004 ICC Champions Trophy was hosted by England with 12 participants. The 10 Test playing nations plus Kenya who had ODI status and the USA which had qualified by winning the 2004 ICC Six Nations Tournament.

Just like the 2002 format, this tournament also had a round-robin stage with four pools of 3 teams each. Then the knockouts would follow with the first-placed team from each of the 4 pools playing in the semi-finals. The hosts England were beaten by the West Indies in the Final of the competition.

10 full member nations were eligible to participate in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy held in India. The top six teams according to the ICC ODI table rankings would qualify directly while the lower-placed four teams would play a pre-tournament round-robin qualifying round out of which two teams would qualify for the main tournament.

In total 8 teams would play the group stages of the tournament in which there were two groups of 4 teams each. Then the top two teams from the two groups would play the semi-finals. Australia defeated the West Indies in the final in 2006.



The next ICC Champions Trophy was to be hosted by Pakistan in 2008, however, due to security concerns, it was moved to South Africa in 2009. The 8 highest ranked ODI teams would participate in a group stage with two groups of 4 teams each.

Then the top two teams from the two groups would play in the semi-finals. Australia defeated New Zealand in the final to win their second consecutive Champions Trophy title.

The next ICC Champions trophy was held after four years in 2013. The format was the same as it was in 2009. England the hosts were beaten by India in the 2013 final and India won their second ICC Champions Trophy title.

The 2017 ICC Champions Trophy was once again held in England with the same format as that of 2009 and 2013. Pakistan got the better of their bitter rivals India in the 2017 final as the men in green went on to win their first-ever ICC Champions Trophy title.

List of Champions Trophy Winners

• South Africa in 1998
• New Zealand in 2000
• Sri Lanka/India (Joint Winners) in 2002
• West Indies in 2004
• Australia in 2006
• Australia in 2009
• India in 2013
• Pakistan in 2017

How many overs in Champions Trophy 2025

The ICC Champions Trophy is played in ODI format, meaning each match consists of 50 overs per side, with a maximum of 100 overs in a full match (excluding any reductions due to weather or other interruptions).