The International Cricket Council is the global governing institution of cricket. It was established in 1909 as an Imperial Cricket Conference in London. The ICC takes a decision on every major rule related to cricket and also organizes all big cricket tournaments. The history of the International Cricket Council is quite old. From 1965, it was known as the International Cricket Conference. At the same time, in 1987 it was named International Cricket Council. But currently the headquarters of the International Cricket Council are in Dubai. In such a situation, the biggest question is why the last ICC headquarters were shifted to Dubai?
Let me tell you, for about 96 years, the headquarters of the International Cricket Council were in London. But after this it was shifted to Dubai. There were many important reasons behind this step, in which increasing expenses and lack of space were the biggest reason. At the same time, this big decision was taken to see the flexibility in tax rules in Dubai and the power of cricket towards Asia. At that time it became an expensive deal for the ICC to maintain headquarters in London. After which the then ICC President Ahsan Money and Chief Executive Malcolm Speed worked on it.
When the ICC took this decision, many cricket-playing countries did not have a double-taxation agreement with England, which meant that the financial transactions made by them in England had to pay more taxes. Dubai, on the other hand, was a tax-free country, which was more beneficial for the ICC. Shifting the headquarters in Dubai, the ICC got more flexibility in its financial matters and saved tax, which was a great financial compulsion.
After 2000, the dominance of cricket was more in Asia than in Europe. Being a headquarters in London, England and Western countries had more influence in cricket, but at that time the center of cricket had become South Asia. Especially cricket was being seen very much in India. Which emerged as the biggest market of cricket. Due to which Asia had become a new stronghold of cricket, this was also a big reason that the ICC had to shift its headquarters from London to Dubai.