World Club Championship is likely to be played next year.
Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will not be a part of the inaugural World Club Championship (WCC), likely to launch in 2026. However, an official confirmation is still awaited. The tournament is being seen as the rebirth of a decade-long-discontinued Champions League T20, which last took place in 2014. The title-winning teams from different franchise leagues across the globe are expected to feature in the tournament.
According to the PTI report, the Club event has been backed by the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI). However, despite their backing, the inaugural edition of the WCC will see no IPL franchise taking part in the competition.
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The franchise qualification in the inaugural edition isn’t based on winning the title alone. It is also being determined through league-level representation and administrative involvement in global meetings. The marquee tournament will witness only five teams competing for the silverware, without any IPL franchise.
“Though the planned event has the backing of the Indian board for the tournament, there will be no IPL participation,” the report said.
Lahore Qalandars, champions of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), will also have no representation in the inaugural edition, reportedly Pakistan Cricket Board’s representative didn’t attend the planned meeting in London last month, claimed the report.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board was invited to send its CEO of the PSL for a meeting held on the sidelines of the Cricket Connect meeting in London last month, but no one showed up,” the source said. “Discussions were held on the proposed World Clubs Championship, its window, format, schedule etc. (The) CEOs of the Emirates League, Big Bash League, The Hundred, SA20, MLC, Caribbean Premier League etc attended the meeting. Pakistan was also invited.”
“The PCB didn’t show up, and strangely, Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has also not regularly attended ICC meetings.”
The World Club Championship is reportedly being fast-tracked to derail the Saudi Cricket League. It has been reported that the Saudi League has an initial investment of $400 million lined up from private investors. Saudi has already made a huge impact in football and tennis, and are now looking at cricket. They want to have their cricket tournament on the sidelines of the Tennis Grand Slam events every year. With a few players already declining their central contracts or taking early retirements from international cricket, the SCL looks threatening as it can draw top players and global attention.
All the boards’ CEOs had come up with five fixed windows for their events in the last meeting. There was a discussion around the availability of NOCs for overseas players as well.
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