JOHANNESBURG, Feb 19, 2010 (AFP) - South Africa will host the 2010 Champions League T20 tournament in September, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced Friday. Twelve teams from seven countries will play in the event from September 10 to 26.

The first edition of the tournament, for the leading Twenty20 teams from the participating countries, was played in India last year with New South Wales beating Trinidad and Tobago in the final. CSA are shareholders, with the Indian and Australian boards, in the Champions League.

The tournament will be played at the home venues of the two South African qualifiers and a third ground to be decided by CSA. The participants will be three teams from the Indian Premier League, two from South Africa, Australia and England, and one each from Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies.

Meanwhile website Cricket365 reported “Champions League commissioner Lalit Modi insisted no definite decision had been taken on where this year's event would take place despite Cricket South Africa claiming they had "accepted an invitation" to host it.

CSA said on their official website that they would host the tournament which features domestic Twenty20 competition winners from across the world, claiming it was "their turn" to stage the event. They have since taken the statement down.

Modi claimed the announcement was premature and told Sky Sports News: "It is absolutely not true yet, but they are a hot contender. "I am the chairman of the Champions League and what we have done is request a few of the boards to let us know if they are ready to host the Champions League.

"The Champions League has been conceived to be a travelling tournament, we have also spoken to Australia, the ECB and the BCCI to affirm whether they are ready to host. "I think what happened is the (South African) board approved that they would like to host it and South Africa definitely is in hot contention for that without doubt. The decision is still to be decided upon by the Champions League board."
Modi also said that the composition of the event had still not been decided upon.