India will host the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy as the ICC on Wednesday officially moved the tournament out of Sri Lanka amid ongoing governance issues in the country.
The tournament will take place from February 14 to 18, 2027, with Mumbai and Vadodara selected as two host cities.
“The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka but will now be staged in India as Sri Lanka Cricket continues to make the requisite reforms outlined at the ICC’s Annual Conference in July.”
The ICC said it had considered Bangladesh, India and South Africa as possible replacement hosts before selecting India based on its established host evaluation criteria.
“The ICC assessed three candidates – Bangladesh, India and South Africa – against its established host evaluation criteria before recommending India as the replacement host, a decision ratified by the ICC Board on 2 September,” the ICC said in a statement.
Mumbai and Vadodara to host six-team event
The Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai and the Vadodara International Cricket Stadium will host the tournament, which will feature Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The six teams qualified based on their positions in the ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings as of the July 6 cut-off date.
The tournament will follow a round-robin format, with all six teams competing in the league stage. The top two teams will then face each other in the final on February 28.
Unlike the men’s Champions Trophy, which is played in the 50-over format, the inaugural women’s edition will be a T20 tournament.