The inaugural edition of the ICC Women's Champions Trophy will be held in India next year, from February 14 to 28, after the governing council stripped Sri Lanka of its hosting rights.
The Champions Trophy tournament will be held at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai and the Vadodara International Cricket Stadium in Vadodara, and will comprise six teams — Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The teams qualified based on their positions in the ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings as of the July 6 qualification cut-off date. They will compete in a round-robin league, with the top two sides advancing to the final on February 28.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka, which was due to host its second ICC event in a year after co-hosting the 2026 men's T20 World Cup. However, the tournament was later moved out of Sri Lanka as Sri Lanka Cricket continues to make the requisite reforms outlined at the ICC’s Annual Conference in July.
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{{/usCountry}}Earlier, media reports indicated that government interference in the board was behind Sri Lanka being stripped of the hosting rights. The current SLC administration is being run by a government-appointed Transformation Committee, which was brought in to oversee reforms to the board, including changes to its constitution and governance.
"The ICC does not recognise politically appointed interim administrations and has refused to allow SLC representatives to attend ICC Board meetings since the Transformation Committee took over," a report in The Sunday Times said.
In a statement released in July, the ICC said: "The ICC Board received an update on Sri Lanka Cricket and noted progress towards a revised Constitution."
"It reiterated the need for elections to be held as soon as possible and agreed that Sri Lanka Cricket would continue to be unable to be represented at ICC Board meetings for the time being."
The ICC assessed three candidates to host the Champions Trophy after the decision on Sri Lanka — Bangladesh, India and South Africa — before narrowing the options down to India. The decision was taken by the ICC Board on September 1.
This will be the third ICC event that India will host in the space of two years, having earlier staged the 2025 Women's ODI World Cup and the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup.
“The ICC Women’s Champions Trophy 2027 marks an exciting new chapter for women’s cricket,” ICC Chairman Jay Shah said.
“As the inaugural edition of the tournament, it will bring together the best teams in the world in an intense, high-quality competition, while creating even greater incentive for teams to continue rising through the rankings and competing for a place on the global stage.
“With a marquee ICC women’s event now taking place every year, we have a significant opportunity to build greater momentum, provide more consistency and create a stronger rhythm for the women’s game, its players and its fans around the world.”