Only 8 teams in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, why are Sri Lanka and West Indies out?

Why Sri Lanka and West Indies Missed Out on the ICC Champions Trophy 2025?

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 started on February 19 with the Pakistan vs. New Zealand match. This tournament brought the hosting of an ICC event to Pakistan after 29 years, which has increased its excitement even more.

This time teams from India, Pakistan, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are participating in the tournament. But the surprising thing is that big teams like West Indies and Sri Lanka are not included in this tournament.

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Why did this happen? Why were Sri Lanka and West Indies left out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025? Let’s know the reason behind this.

Why are only 8 teams playing in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025?

The ICC had earlier included more teams in the ICC Champions Trophy, but since 2009, the tournament has been limited to just 8 teams. The last edition in 2017 also had only 8 teams, in which Pakistan emerged victorious.

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The same rule applied for 2025 as well and the teams were selected on the basis of the points table of the ODI World Cup 2023. The teams that finished in the top-8 in the World Cup 2023 directly qualified for the tournament. Apart from this, Pakistan had already qualified for it as the host.

Why are Sri Lanka and West Indies out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025?

West Indies:

West Indies played the qualifiers for the ODI World Cup 2023, but they could not qualify for the World Cup after losing to the Netherlands and Zimbabwe. Since the Champions Trophy was given to only those teams that played in the World Cup, West Indies were out of this tournament.

Sri Lanka:

The Sri Lankan team qualified for the World Cup 2023, but finished 9th in the points table of the ICC event played in India. Since only the top-8 teams were to get entry into the Champions Trophy 2025, Sri Lanka had to exit the tournament.

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