Qualifying

Although the 2008 tournament was originally rumoured to only include teams from Australia, South Africa, India and England, it was announced on 4 July 2008, that two teams from Pakistan's domestic tournament were also invited. At the same time, England's participation was also put into doubt, following differences between the ECB & BCCI over the inclusion of rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) players. Eventually, it was arranged so that the 2008 Twenty20 Champions League would have consisted of 8 teams from 5 countries. 

The Qualifiers are:

The winners, runners-up and third placed team of the Indian Premier League in India.
The winners and runners-up of the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in Australia.
The winners and runners-up of the Standard Bank Pro 20 Series in South Africa.
The winners and runners-up of the Twenty20 Cup in England and Wales.
The winners of the State Twenty20 from New Zealand.
The winners of the Stanford 20/20 from West Indies.
The winners of the Inter-Provincial Twenty20 from Sri Lanka.

Tournament

The 2009 Champions League will be contested by 12 teams. It will start with a round robin format, with 4 pools of 3 teams. The Top 2 teams from each pool will advance to the knockout stages. A total 19 matches will be played over a 16 day period.