How to watch the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy | UK TV & more

Jonathan Victoria • 17 Feb 2025 Guides

Get ready to watch the best of the best of ODI cricket.

After eight years away, the ICC Champions Trophy is returning, with some of the world's best teams ready and raring to go to battle against one another.

With the ICC Cricket World Cup still two years away, this is the first major ODI competition since 2023, so don’t be surprised to see each team going all out for glory.

If that is the case, you definitely won’t want to miss it! Find out how to watch the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in the UK plus more important information about the competition right here.

How to watch the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy will have one game on almost every day of the competition, with the exception being between the Group Stage to semi-finals, and semi-finals to the Final.

All games will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports, as is the case for all ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) sanctioned events.

Cricket on Sky Sports

As mentioned, Sky Sports holds the rights to all ECB sanctioned events and has done for over 30 years now.

ECB sanctioned events cover all home international and domestic competitions, which includes all England fixtures across T20, ODI and Test, plus club contests such as The Hundred. This applies to both men’s and women’s cricket.

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy will feature England, so if you’re interested in watching, you’ll need to have or get an applicable Sky Sports package.

New customers can obtain this via a pre-made package that puts together Sky TV and Sky Sports, sometimes with other services such as broadband, although you can choose the package with the inclusions you want/need.

You can also simply add it on to a different package, with the option of a 31 day rolling contract (£27 a month*) or a 24 month contract (£20 a month*). 

As for existing customers without Sky Sports, it can be added to your Sky TV package via the add ons, with the same choice shown above available.

*Prices correct as of 17/02/25.

What is the ICC Champions Trophy?

The ICC Champions Trophy is a quadrennial competition, meaning it comes every four years, just like the Cricket World Cup.

It is contested between eight teams, seven of whom qualified by being the seven highest-ranked teams from the 2023 Cricket World Cup group stage, while the other is the host (but was also one of the eight highest-ranked teams).

ICC Champions Trophy history

The ICC Champions Trophy held its inaugural competition in 1998, then known as the ICC KnockOut Trophy with the plan to be held biennially. The name was rebranded to what it is known as now in 2002, and moved to be held quadrennially in 2009. There have been a total of eight tournaments since the first in ‘98.

While the Cricket World Cup, the original quadrennial ODI competition, had already been established 23 years prior to the founding of the contest, the ICC decided to create the Champions Trophy as a way to raise funds for the development of the game in non-Test playing nations.

The first tournament was held in Bangladesh, who has since gone on to become a solid force in international cricket, showing the competition's effectiveness since its inception.

In total, there have been eight tournaments held, with the 2025 edition set to be the ninth. 

Before the start of the 2017 edition, it was announced that the ICC Champions Trophy would be scrapped. However, in 2021, it was announced that it would return in 2025, and in late 2024 the ICC officially relaunched the competition, accompanied with a fresh visual identity.

2025 ICC Champions Trophy: Hosts

Pakistan was chosen as the host for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, ending the nation's nearly three decade-long wait for hosting duties of an ICC major tournament.

However, since India refused to travel to play in Pakistan citing safety concerns, an agreement between the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) was reached to host games between the two nations in a neutral venue. As such, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was brought in as a co-host.

Venues

Pakistan remains as the main host, with only one venue in UAE. There are four venues in total, with two hosting three games and the other two hosting five. The venues and locations are:

• National Bank Cricket Arena – Karachi, Pakistan | 3 games
• Gaddafi Stadium – Lahore, Pakistan | 5 games (semi-final 2 & final)
• Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium – Rawalpindi, Pakistan | 3 games
• Dubai International Cricket Stadium – Dubai, UAE | 5 games (semi-final 1 & final)

As it stands, both the Gaddafi Stadium and Dubai International Cricket Stadium are listed as the host for the final. 

This is due to the potential of India reaching the final. If they do, the final will be played in UAE. If not, it will be played in Pakistan.

2025 ICC Champions Trophy: Format

The ICC Champions Trophy is an ODI event, so each game will be contested over one day, with 50 overs for each side.

The eight teams will be divided into two groups which will form the group stage. Each team will play against the other three in their group, for a total of 12 matches.

Points are awarded for the result of a match that counts towards the group table. Teams get two points for a win, one point for a tie/no result/abandoned game, and zero points for a loss.

In the event that two or more teams are tied in the standings, the team with a superior net run rate will go through. If the teams have equal net run rates, it falls to their head-to-head match (points first then net run rate if still equal).

Once all 12 matches have been played, the top two teams in the group will advance to the semi-finals. 

The matchups for the semi-final will be arranged as such:

• Semi-final 1: Winner of Group A vs Runner-up of Group B
• Semi-final 2: Winner of Group B vs Runner-up of Group A

As expected, the winners of each match will go through to the final.

2025 ICC Champions Trophy: Groups

This table will be updated after each result.

2025 ICC Champions Trophy: Schedule

The competition will get underway on Wednesday 19th February, with 15 matches then set to play over 19 days.

The group stage will kick things off, running from the 19th February to 2nd March. The groups will alternate games played, starting with Group A, who will play their first two games in consecutive days, then Group B, who will play their first two games.

The only exception to this is for the final set of group stage games, when Group A will play one game, then Group B will play their two games, then the final Group A game will be played.

Following the end of the group stage on 2nd March, there will be one day’s rest before the semi-finals are played on 4th and 5th March.

Here are the games for the tournament up until the final:

Group Stage

• 19th February – Pakistan vs New Zealand (Group A) | Karachi
• 20th February – Bangladesh vs India (Group A) | Dubai
• 21st February – Afghanistan vs South Africa (Group B) | Karachi
• 22nd February – Australia vs England (Group B) | Lahore
• 23rd February – Pakistan vs India (Group A) | Dubai
• 24th February – Bangladesh vs New Zealand (Group A) | Rawalpindi
• 25th February – Australia vs South Africa (Group B) | Rawalpindi
• 26th February – Afghanistan vs England (Group B) | Lahore
• 27th February – Pakistan vs Bangladesh (Group A) | Rawalpindi
• 28th February – Afghanistan vs Australia (Group B) | Lahore
• 1st March –  England vs South Africa (Group B) | Karachi
• 2nd March – India vs New Zealand (Group A) | Dubai

Semi-final

• 4th March – Semi-final 1 | Dubai
• 5th March – Semi-final 2 | Lahore

2025 ICC Champions Trophy Final

The final will take place on 9th March, four days after the second semi-final match so as to give both sides a long enough break.

As previously mentioned, the final venue is not yet set. It will be decided when it is known if India have qualified for the final or not.

ICC Champions Trophy: Winners list

There have been seven different winners of the ICC Champions Trophy, with two nations boasting two wins each.

In the 2002 edition, joint-winners were declared after bad weather conditions meant the final could not be played. The winners of the two semi-final matches were declared co-champions.