Champions Trophy: Format, Winners and the 2025 Return
The Champions Trophy is the ICC's short one-day international tournament for the top eight ranked teams, played over about three weeks with no group of weak sides and no dead rubbers. It began in 1998 as the ICC KnockOut, was nearly scrapped twice, went eight years without an edition after 2017, and returned in 2025 in Pakistan and Dubai, where India beat New Zealand in the final. The next edition is in India in 2029. This guide covers the format, every winner, the 2025 tournament, why the ICC kept it, and how it differs from the World Cup.
The Format
Eight teams, qualified by ranking or by finishing in the top eight of the previous World Cup, in two groups of four. The top two in each group go to the semi-finals, then a final: fifteen matches in all. The 2025 edition ran from 19 February to 9 March, with Pakistan as host and India playing all of its matches, including the final, in Dubai under a hybrid arrangement. The prize pool was 6.9 million US dollars, 2.24 million of it to the winners.
Every Winner
| Year | Host | Final |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Bangladesh | South Africa beat West Indies by 4 wickets, Dhaka |
| 2000 | Kenya | New Zealand beat India by 4 wickets, Nairobi |
| 2002 | Sri Lanka | India and Sri Lanka shared the title after the final was washed out twice, Colombo |
| 2004 | England | West Indies beat England by 2 wickets, The Oval |
| 2006 | India | Australia beat West Indies by 8 wickets on Duckworth-Lewis, Mumbai |
| 2009 | South Africa | Australia beat New Zealand by 6 wickets, Centurion |
| 2013 | England | India beat England by 5 runs, Edgbaston |
| 2017 | England | Pakistan beat India by 180 runs, The Oval |
| 2025 | Pakistan and UAE | India beat New Zealand by 4 wickets, Dubai |
India have three titles including the shared one, Australia two, and South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies and Pakistan one each. Pakistan's 2017 win, having started the tournament as the lowest-ranked side, remains the biggest upset in a final.
The 2025 Tournament
The final on 9 March 2025 in Dubai saw New Zealand make 251 for 7 and India chase it with an over to spare, Rohit Sharma's 76 earning the match award. Rachin Ravindra was player of the tournament with 263 runs, and Matt Henry took ten wickets. Afghanistan made their debut, and Pakistan, as hosts, were eliminated before their last group match was washed out.
Why It Nearly Disappeared
The ICC announced before the 2013 edition that it would be the last, intending to replace it with a Test championship, then reversed that decision in January 2014 and played the 2017 tournament. No edition was held in 2021, which left the eight-year gap that led many to assume the competition had been discontinued. It had not: the 2025 edition was confirmed in the ICC's 2021 allocation of events, and the same allocation gave the 2029 tournament to India. What the ICC has not committed to is any edition beyond that.
Champions Trophy and World Cup
The World Cup has ten teams, runs for six or seven weeks and is played every four years; the Champions Trophy has eight, runs for three weeks and sits in between. The shorter format is the point: every match involves two top-eight sides and a single defeat can end a campaign. Our guide to the difference between the Champions Trophy and the World Cup sets the two side by side, and the full winners list has the finals in detail.
FAQs: Champions Trophy
Who won the Champions Trophy in 2025? India, beating New Zealand by four wickets in Dubai on 9 March 2025.
When is the next Champions Trophy? 2029, in India, under the ICC's allocation of events. Dates have not been published.
Was the Champions Trophy discontinued? No. The ICC planned to end it after 2013, reversed that in 2014, played 2017, skipped 2021 and held the 2025 edition.
How many teams play in the Champions Trophy? Eight, in two groups of four, with semi-finals and a final.
Who has won the most Champions Trophies? India, with wins in 2013 and 2025 and a shared title in 2002.
Sources
The 2025 final is reported by the ICC. The tournament's history, the 2014 reversal and the full list of finals are recorded on its Wikipedia page. The 2029 allocation to India is from the ICC's host announcement of November 2021, as reported by Gulf Times.
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