Lahore, July 7, 2025: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has officially discontinued the Champions Cup, just a year after its launch as part of an ambitious domestic cricket overhaul. The tournament will not feature in the 2025–26 domestic season, the board confirmed on Monday.
Launched in 2024 with considerable fanfare, the Champions Cup was introduced to raise the competitive standard of domestic cricket. As part of the initiative, the PCB appointed five prominent former cricketers — Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, and Sarfaraz Ahmed — as team mentors, offering them three-year contracts reportedly worth Rs 5 million per month.
However, following an internal review earlier this year, the PCB has decided to shelve both the tournament and the mentorship program, citing failure to meet key objectives.
“The Champions Cup did not yield the desired outcomes in terms of competitive value and structural impact,” sources within the board revealed.
“The mentorship model was also reviewed and deemed unsustainable in its current form.”
The program began to unravel when Shoaib Malik became the first to resign from his mentor role. His departure triggered internal discussions that eventually led to the board’s decision to terminate all mentorship contracts.
It is worth noting that the mentor appointments were announced through what the PCB described at the time (August 26, 2024) as a competitive and transparent selection process.
Alongside the Champions Cup’s discontinuation, the PCB also unveiled its domestic cricket calendar for the 2025–26 season, focusing on a more performance-based and streamlined structure.
The season will open with the Hanif Mohammad Trophy on August 15, to be played across Karachi, Multan, Bahawalpur, and Rahim Yar Khan. The highlight of the season will be the revamped Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament, which will feature eight teams and commence on September 22.
The changes mark a significant shift in the PCB’s domestic priorities, signaling a return to traditional formats with a renewed emphasis on merit and performance.
