ECB interested to revive defunct Champions League T20 with World Club Championship

The ECB chairman said that the World Club Championship is on the cards, which will serve as a replacement for the Champions League T20.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is interested in bringing back the defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20) to life with a World Club Championship. The league was a franchise T20 tournament between the franchises of a few big cricketing nations.

The CLT20 witnessed six seasons, running from 2009 to 2014. The top-qualifying teams of multiple franchise T20 leagues participated in the tournament. In the inaugural season in 2009, the New South Wales team of Australia won the title. In the 2014 edition, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lifted the title by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final.

Notably, CLT20 was an initiative by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA), and Cricket South Africa (CSA). However, it was discontinued after six seasons due to commercial struggles and lower viewership.

World Club Championship is on the cards: ECB chief executive Richard Gould

During a conversation with ESPN Cricinfo, ECB chief executive Richard Gould said that a World Club Championship tournament is on the cards. He also added that Champions League T20 was a really good tournament.

“That is on the cards. Without doubt, at some point, there will be a World Club Championship – for both men and women. That’s the next logical step. That tournament [Champions League T20] was ahead of its time. Commercially, it couldn’t keep up with the expectations on it, but it was a really good event,” Gauld said.

Notably, during the active years of CLT20, only a few nations conducted franchise T20 leagues. However, in the last few years, many cricket-playing nations have commenced their own franchise T20 leagues. For instance, SA20 (South Africa), The Hundred (England), ILT20 (UAE), and Major Cricket League (USA) are some of the franchise leagues that commenced during the last five years.

Meanwhile, a tournament like World Club Championship will need the support of many IPL franchises. Notably, eight of the 10 IPL owners have teams in franchise T20 leagues of multiple nations.

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