Champions League omitted from FTP

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat has confirmed the Twenty20 Champions League will not be in the FTP

The International Cricket Council today confirmed that the forthcoming Twenty20 Champions League has not been incorporated into the official Future Tours Programme.

The inaugural edition of the competition was postponed in December due to the Mumbai terror attacks and has since been expanded from an eight- to a 12-team tournament, featuring Twenty20 champions and finalists from Australia, India, England, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

India will now host the competition in October and reports suggested the revised dates had been worked into the FTP - the official ICC international touring programme - but they have since rejected that.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said: “The ICC board, which includes all full members, worked together last October to come up with a date for this year’s Champions League tournament that was mutually convenient for all.

“However, that was only as part of a wider discussion on when we could play the Champions Trophy, which was postponed from Pakistan in 2008 and relocated to South Africa.

“The FTP does not include any fixtures between domestic teams, even those from more than one country, and only features ICC events, such as the Cricket World Cup, the Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20, and bilateral fixtures between full member international teams.

“I have been in touch with Lalit Modi, a vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and commissioner of the Indian Premier League and the Champions League, and we are in full agreement on this matter.”