ICC Events 2021 to 2031: ICC has announced its next set of tournaments for the commercial cycle 2024-31; Pakistan to return as Hosts again
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced its Future Tours Programme list for the commercial cycle 2024-31.
The notable changes/additions are the arrivals of the Champions Trophy after is was abandoned post the 2017 edition, and Pakistan- who are set to Host a major ICC event after the year 1996.
The ICC has made a complete contrast with respect to the hosts, where it has now decided to allow smaller countries to have the opportunity to conduct its tournaments.
Thus, a total of eight new men’s global tournaments, will be part of ICC’s next commercial cycle from 2024-31. The eight marquee tournaments comprise two ODI World Cups, four T20 World Cups and two editions of the Champions Trophy, which the ICC had decided to bring back.
ICC Events 2021 to 2031: USA to make its debut as hosts; Pakistan to host Champions Trophy 2025
Pakistan will be hosting a world tournament for the first time in nearly three decades when it co-hosts the Champions Trophy in February 2025. In another first, the USA will host its first ever global tournament as a co-host along with the West Indies for the men’s T20 World Cup in June 2024.
On Monday, the ICC Board finalised the venues for the eight events based on the recommendations of a working group which shortlisted the hosting countries based on the bids put forth by the member countries. As per ESPNcricinfo, overall there were 28 proposals from 17 countries, including 14 hosts.
The hosting countries are in complete contrast to the previous cycle (2017-23) where majority of men’s global tournaments were distributed between the Big 3 countries comprising India, England and Australia. The last time a men’s global tournament was held in a non-Big 3 country was the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh.
However, with the exponential growth of T20 cricket, the ICC has had a growing ambition to make the sport global. That has been the key element of the ICC’s global strategy and thus the distribution of the global events in the next Future Tours Programme (FTP) thus has been spread uniformly across all continents.
Along with the USA, Namibia will be hosting their maiden global tournament as co-hosts for the ODI World Cup with South Africa and Zimbabwe in October-November 2027. It will also be the first men’s World Cup in Africa since South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe co-hosted the 2003 edition. Also, Scotland and Ireland will be playing co-hosts along with England for the 2030 T20 World Cup while Australia and New Zealand co-host the T20 World Cup in October 2028.
India to host T20 World Cup in 2026, ODI World Cup in 2031
The ICC Board sub-committee confirmed that India will be the hosts for the 2026 T20 World Cup, 2029 Champions Trophy, and 2031 ODI World Cup. The Board accepted the recommendations of the committee while deciding on the host counties for these eight ICC Events.
India will be hosting the 2026 T20 World Cup along with Sri Lanka and the 2031 ODI World Cup along with Bangladesh. However, the 2029 Champions Trophy will be hosted by the BCCI alone.
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