Pakistan had expected huge profits from hosting Champions Trophy 2025, but India’s success caused it a big loss. Here’s how hosting India’s matches in Dubai affected Pakistan’s financial situation.

Champions Trophy 2025: Team India recently created a huge excitement among fans by winning the Champions Trophy 2025 title. Interestingly, despite Pakistan being the host country, the Indian team won the title without even setting foot on Pakistani soil. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had hoped that this Champions Trophy would reduce their problems and promote cricket in the country, but their hopes were shattered. All the other countries participated in it, but Pakistan suffered huge financial losses due to India not playing in Pakistan. The performance of the Pakistani team was also poor and it was eliminated in the league stage itself. They had to face defeat against the same team they did not want to lose to, i.e. India. After this defeat, they had to face criticism from their own fans. Eventually, India prevented Pakistan from hosting the semi-finals and finals, causing them huge financial losses.

In fact, Pakistan got a chance to host an ICC tournament after 29 years. However, the tournament could not be held there in its entirety because of India. Cricket relations also deteriorated due to strained bilateral relations with Pakistan. Due to this, the Indian government did not allow Team India to go to Pakistan. Because of this, the Indian team participated in the tournament under a hybrid model. This meant that while all the matches of the rest of the countries were held in Pakistan, the Indian team’s matches were held in Dubai. Thus, the league, semi-finals and final matches of Team India were played in Dubai, causing huge losses to Pakistan.

Pakistan suffers huge losses due to the absence of Team India: Indian cricket fans are present all over the world. Wherever ICC tournaments are held, Indian fans come to the stadium to watch the match and spend money, which generates good income. This helps the local economy. Pakistan also spent heavily on the Champions Trophy with this thinking. However, their hopes were dashed when India did not come to Pakistan. When Pakistan was eliminated in the league stage itself, the rest of the hopes were also dashed. After Pakistan was eliminated, the spectators did not come to the stadium. As a result, the expected sale of tickets did not happen, causing huge losses to Pakistan and its cricket board.

No ICC tournament has been held in Pakistan since 1996 due to terrorism. With the opportunity to host the Champions Trophy 2025, they expected good income. For this, cricket stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi were renovated and security was increased. According to some Pakistani media reports, Pakistan spent about $64 million i.e. about ₹558 crores for this tournament. Apart from this, about $9 million was spent on hospitality and transportation. However, all this did not lead to any profit, only loss.

How much loss did Pakistan incur in hosting the Champions Trophy?

In the Champions Trophy 2025, the Pakistan team played only two matches in their country. In the first match, they were defeated by New Zealand. In the second match, the Indian team defeated them. After these two defeats, the Pakistan team could not even reach the semi-finals. The last match to be played with Bangladesh was canceled due to rain. After these matches, the stadiums of Pakistan looked empty.

Pakistan will get $6 million i.e. about ₹52 crores from the ICC for hosting the Champions Trophy 2025. But due to the lack of spectators, the sale of tickets was low, which also reduced the income. Foreign spectators also did not go to watch cricket matches in Pakistan. As a result, the income from the tournament was not equal to the expenditure. According to an estimate, Pakistan suffered a loss of about ₹195 crores in hosting the Champions Trophy.