ISLAMABAD: The top seven sides at the end of the league stage of the ongoing Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup will qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 tournament along with hosts Pakistan, international cricket website ESPNcricinfo reported on Sunday.

Originally known as the ICC Knockout when it was first staged in 1998, the first round of the tournament comprises two groups of four. The top two in each group progress to the semifinals, with the winners contesting the final.

Pakistan have already qualified for the tournament as the country is scheduled to host the 2025 edition. The green shirts, under former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, won the trophy by thrashing arch-rivals India in the final in 2017.

“The top seven sides at the end of the league stage of the ongoing ODI World Cup in India will qualify for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, along with hosts Pakistan, to compete in the eight-team event,” ESPNcricinfo, quoting an ICC representative, said in a report.

As per the report, the spokesperson confirmed that the qualification system for the 2025 Champions Trophy was approved by the ICC Board in 2021 when the competition was brought back as one of the eight men’s global tournaments to be held in the 2024-31 cycle.

At present, defending world champions England and Bangladesh are at number 10 and 9 on the World Cup points table, meaning the two teams can possibly miss out on the tournament.

Despite the fact that the qualification system was approved in 2021, ESPNcricinfo said the development came as a surprise for some boards whose teams are in India and others as well, whose teams were unable to qualify for the ongoing World Cup. Some board representatives told ESPNcricinfo they were unaware qualification for the Champions Trophy was at stake during this tournament, the report said.

Full-Member ICC nations such as the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland will not be able to play the Champions Trophy 2025 as they were unable to qualify for the 2023 World Cup.

The qualification for the upcoming Champions Trophy event was highlighted by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan last week. With Bangladesh almost effectively out of the race for the semifinals, the Bangladesh skipper said his side had to play for a spot in the 2025 tournament to be hosted in Pakistan.

“At least, do a little better. Suppose, you have to be in the [top] ranking 8 if you want to play in the Champions Trophy,” Hasan said. “So, there are still three matches left considering that in mind.”