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  • ICC plans a Club T20 tournament, a sort of revival of the failed Champions League concept.
  • Finding calendar space remains the biggest hurdle for the proposed event.
  • Bilateral white-ball series set to shrink, replaced by regional quadrangular tournaments in the next FTP. 

ICC eyes global club T20 tournament amid packed calendar concerns

ICC gathered in Edinburgh last week for its annual conference, and plans for a tournament bringing together the strongest franchise sides from T20 leagues around the world appear to be gathering real momentum. 

According to BBC Sport, the competition could realistically launch within the next couple of years, provided a suitable window can be carved out of an already crowded international calendar.

A meeting involving franchise executives from across the globe is scheduled later this year, which could offer clearer direction on how the concept might eventually take shape.

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Much like how football's governing body, FIFA, operates its own Club World Cup, the ICC appears keen to establish a similar model, tapping into the growing commercial value of franchise cricket worldwide.

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The FTP puzzle that ICC needs to resolve

The ICC's Future Tours Programme remains locked in place until next year, with major events including World Cups, the World Test Championship, and marquee series involving England, India and Australia already scheduled all the way through to 2031.

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This means any significant structural changes to accommodate a new global club event would likely have to wait until that cycle concludes.

A follow-up meeting has been pencilled in for August, where officials will attempt to finalise the remaining portions of the international calendar, followed by a final review in September.

Beyond the club tournament discussions, it also looks increasingly likely that the number of traditional bilateral white-ball series will decrease once the next FTP cycle begins.

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In their place, the ICC appears to be favouring smaller regional quadrangular tournaments, likely featuring two teams drawn from each full member cricketing region. It will be a shift that could fundamentally alter how international white-ball cricket is structured in the years ahead.

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Champions League T20: Reviving a concept that once failed

In many ways, this proposed World Club Championship would mark the return of the ill-fated Champions League T20. It was a tournament which was jointly run by the cricket boards of India, Australia and South Africa between 2009 and 2014.

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That earlier venture folded after just six seasons, largely due to underwhelming commercial interest at the time.

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While the appetite for franchise cricket has grown substantially since then, the central challenge remains largely unchanged. It is finding room in an already packed schedule dominated by domestic leagues and international fixtures alike.

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Soham Mukherjee

Soham Mukherjee is a content producer and writer, with a focus on cricket, football, tennis and Indian sports. His work has appeared in Goal.com previously, where he has covered the Premier League, La Liga, Champions League, FIFA World Cups and Indian football. Armed with an MA (Master's) in Sports Journalism from Symbiosis International University, he knew early on that his future wouldn’t be on the pitch but behind the pen, shaping narratives about the games he adores.

Source: Cricketnews.com