India to Host Inaugural Women's Champions Trophy After ICC Moves Event

The International Cricket Council has moved the inaugural Women's Champions Trophy from Sri Lanka to India, confirming a change of host less than six months before the tournament. The six-team event will be played in Mumbai and Vadodara from February 14 to 28, 2027, according to an ICC announcement issued Wednesday.

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The Cricket Club of India in Mumbai and the Vadodara International Cricket Stadium will stage the matches. Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka make up the field for the first edition, which will use the Twenty20 format. BBC Sport also reported the relocation, noting that the women's competition differs from the 50-over men's Champions Trophy.

The six participants qualified through their positions in the ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings at the July 6 cutoff. They will meet in a round-robin league, after which the top two teams will advance directly to the final on February 28. The ICC has not yet published the individual match schedule or ticketing details.

Sri Lanka had originally been awarded the tournament, but the ICC said Sri Lanka Cricket is still making reforms outlined at the governing body's annual conference in July. The ICC release did not set out further details of those reforms. BBC Sport reported that the hosting decision was connected to continuing issues involving the national board and government interference.

The ICC evaluated replacement bids from Bangladesh, India and South Africa using what it described as its established host evaluation criteria. India was then recommended as the replacement, and the ICC Board ratified that choice on September 2. That process leaves Sri Lanka in the unusual position of losing the event while its national team remains one of the six qualified participants.

ICC chairman Jay Shah presented the new competition as part of a broader effort to give the women's international game a more consistent calendar of major events. His statement emphasized the incentive created by rankings-based qualification and the plan for a marquee ICC women's tournament every year. For now, the confirmed change is limited to the host country and venues; the full fixture list and ticket information are still to follow.