Sri Lanka loses ICC Women’s Champions Trophy hosting rights?

Sri Lanka has lost the hosting rights for the inaugural International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Champions Trophy due to ongoing concerns regarding government involvement in the administration of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), according to a weekend newspaper.

The six-team tournament was originally scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka from 14 to 28 February 2027, but the global governing body has decided to relocate the event to another country.

Confirming the development, SLC Transformation Committee Secretary Prakash Shaffter told the weekend newspaper that the event has been moved out of Sri Lanka and will be played at a different venue, though the exact location is yet to be determined.

A new host nation is expected to be decided at the upcoming ICC Board meeting. SLC is currently administered by a government-appointed Transformation Committee tasked with overseeing reforms to the cricket board's constitution and governance structure. The ICC has barred SLC representatives from attending its board meetings since the committee took over, emphasising the need for elections to be held as soon as possible.

The newspaper reported that losing the tournament is projected to cause financial losses for both SLC and Sri Lanka, impacting potential revenue generated from visiting teams, officials, broadcasters, spectators, and tourism.

The change of host could also threaten Sri Lanka's participation in the competition. The inaugural event is expected to feature the host nation alongside the top five ranked teams; as Sri Lanka is currently ranked sixth, direct qualification could be compromised if the new host is ranked outside the top six.

Sri Lanka previously lost the hosting rights for the 2024 ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup following an ICC suspension of SLC in 2023, which resulted in the tournament being moved to South Africa.