ICC Champions Trophy

The ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC KnockOut Trophy, is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and contested by international men's teams. Inaugurated in 1998, the Champions Trophy was established by the ICC as a short cricket tournament to raise funds for the development of the game in non-Test playing countries, contrasting with the mainstream Cricket World Cup, which had, at the time, existed for 23 years with six completed editions.

The first Champions Trophy was organised in Bangladesh in June 1998 and the next edition was held in Kenya in October 2000. These nations – both ICC Associate members – were chosen as hosts to increase the popularity of cricket and then use the funds collected for the continued development of the sport in those countries. From the 2002 tournament onwards, hosting has been shared between countries under an unofficial rotation system, with six ICC members having hosted at least one match in the tournament. The current format involves a qualification phase, which takes place in the preceding edition of the Cricket World Cup, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. The top eight ranked teams in the World Cup (including the hosts of the Champions Trophy) secure a berth for the tournament.

So far, a total of fourteen teams have competed in the nine editions of the tournament. India (2002, 2013, 2025), who is the current champion after winning the 2025 edition, is the most successful team with three titles; Australia (2006, 2009) has won it twice; while South Africa (1998), New Zealand (2000), Sri Lanka (2002), West Indies (2004) and Pakistan (2017) have won it once each. The 2002 edition was shared between India and Sri Lanka after the final ended in a no-result due to rain.

The first Cricket World Cup was held in 1975 and then every four years since. The World Cup was usually played by full ICC member nations. The ICC conceived the idea of the Champions Trophy: a short cricket tournament to raise funds for the development of the game in non-Test playing countries, with the first two tournaments being held in Bangladesh and Kenya.

It was inaugurated as the ICC KnockOut Trophy, which was held in 1998 and 2000. The tournament's name was changed to the Champions Trophy before the 2002 edition.

Since 2002, the tournament has been held in full ICC member nations with the number of teams reduced to eight. The tournament, later dubbed the "Mini World Cup" as it involved all of the full members of the ICC, was planned as a knock-out tournament so that it was short and did not reduce the value and importance of the World Cup. However, from 2002, the tournament has had a round-robin format, followed by a few knockout games, but the tournament still takes places over a short period of time – about two weeks.

The number of teams competing has varied over the years; originally all the ICC's full members took part, and from 2000 to 2004 associate members were also involved. Since 2009, the tournament has only involved the eight highest-ranked teams in the ICC ODI Rankings as of six months prior to the beginning of the tournament. The tournament has been held in 7 countries since its inception, with England hosting it thrice.

Up to 2006 the Champions Trophy was held every two years. The tournament had been scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 2008 but was moved to South Africa in 2009 due to security reasons. From then on it has been held every four years like the World Cup.