The tournament, featuring eight teams, will now be played from December 3-10, it was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), the three participating member-teams, in a joint statement on Thursday.

The change of dates for the event was agreed by the event's governing council at the ICC's request for a clearer window for the event after the Champions Trophy.

Venues and commercial partnership details will be finalised in the coming weeks.

Winners and runners-up of the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, plus the Pakistan champions Sialkot and the English champions Middlesex have been invited to play for the $6 million prize money.

"We are happy that we were able to find a window during the first week of December for the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 Champions League,” Lalit Modi, Chairman & Commissioner of the Indian Premier League(IPL)and vice-president BCCI, said.

“There was a gap between the One-Day Internationals and Test series against the touring England squad and that will enable both the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings to regroup and focus on the inaugural edition of the Champions League Twenty20," Modi added.