Why are West Indies and Sri Lanka not a part of Champions Trophy 2025? What's the reason behind their exclusion

The Champions Trophy 2025 schedule is out and the eight participating teams are confirmed too. However, two big teams Sri Lanka and West Indies are not gonna compete in the mega event of next year and we will be taking a look at the reason behind their exclusion from the tournament.

Cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday, 24th of December finally announced the highly-anticipated schedule of the ninth edition of the Champions Trophy after months of scuffling between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) . Next year's mega event is set to kick off from the 19th of February onwards, with New Zealand and Pakistan clashing versus each other in the opening fixture and the all-important Final will be played on the 9th of March. 

The marquee ICC event will see a total of eight teams fighting it out against each other in 15 encounters across the span of 18 days. The competition will be held under the hybrid-model policy with Pakistan being the host for all teams except Team India and Dubai will be playing the role of the host for the Indian Cricket Team

"The eight teams contesting for the coveted white triumphant jackets in the 2025 Champions Trophy (CT) are the same countries who finished the 2023 ODI World Cup in the top eight overall, according to the rankings. 2023 ODI World Cup champions Australia (AUS), South Africa (RSA), Afghanistan (AFG) and England (ENG) are a part of Group B of the competition, while reigning champions and hosts Pakistan (PAK) are in Group-A alongwith the likes of Bangladesh (BAN), Fierce-rivals India (IND) & New Zealand (NZ) " the ICC announced.

Why West Indies and Sri Lanka didn't get the chance to compete in the Champions Trophy?

A total of eight teams are allowed to compete in the Champions Trophy (CT) since 2009, split into two groups of four teams each. The teams which manage to finish in the top two spots of each group advance to the Semi-Final phase after each team plays one match verus the other three teams in their respective group. The winners of both the semi-finals then get the opportunity to lock horns versus each other in the all-important title-Deciding clash i.e the Final. 

West Indies and Sri Lanka are two big cricket playing nations that will not be seen playing in the upcoming edition of the Champions Trophy (CT). Only eight teams are allowed to play in next year's mega event and these teams were decided on the basis of their final finishing spot in the overall standing of the 2023 Cricket World Cup. 

However, since the Sri Lankans ended the tournament at the ninth spot, they didn't get the chance to qualify for the Champions Trophy from the ODI World Cup while the Windies on the other hand didn't even qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup which directly eliminated them from the race of securing the Champions Trophy (CT) spots. 

Do Read: ICC unveil the official Champions Trophy 2025 schedule, know all the details regarding India's matches

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