ICC yet to decide on World Club T20 Championship: sources

Sources further revealed that no formal discussions on the World Club T20 Championship took place during recent meetings of cricket officials in England

PHOTO: PSL

The future of the proposed World Club T20 Championship, which aims to bring together the champion teams from various domestic T20 leagues, remains uncertain, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Reports claiming that Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025 champions Lahore Qalandars had been excluded from the planned tournament have been dismissed as baseless.

“There has been no official decision to hold such a tournament. So the question of Pakistan being excluded does not arise,” a source said on Monday.

Sources further revealed that no formal discussions on the World Club T20 Championship took place during recent meetings of cricket officials in England.

“The topic was not even part of the agenda. In fact, no representatives from either the PSL or the Indian Premier League (IPL) were present at those meetings,” the source added.

It was also clarified that no cricket board brought up the idea of a global T20 champions event during those discussions.

“Since no plans for such a tournament currently exist, all talk about Pakistan’s exclusion is premature and unfounded,” the source stressed.

The authority to propose and approve an international tournament of this nature lies with the International Cricket Council (ICC). So far, the ICC has neither issued a formal statement nor taken any official steps toward launching a global league champions competition.

Earlier reports suggested that the inaugural edition of the World Club T20 Championship would involve five teams and follow a format similar to the now-defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20), which ran from 2009 to 2015.

The CLT20 brought together top domestic T20 sides from around the world but was eventually discontinued due to low viewership and commercial challenges.

At present, several cricketing nations including India, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, the UAE, and the USA host their own franchise-based T20 leagues, many of which have become major events in the global cricket calendar.