International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat has confirmed the Champions Trophy will be staged in Pakistan in September - but admits it will be a struggle to convince players to participate.

Pakistan has been hit by a series of bomb blasts in recent months, but Lorgat - who led an ICC fact-finding mission - claims to have seen enough to convince him that it is safe to stage a major sporting event.

"Pakistan has been given the all-clear to hold the Champions Trophy," said Lorgat. "I think personally from what I have seen and what I have heard, and beginning to witness some of the actual security implementation measures, I am quite impressed with the level of security in place. It is another matter to satisfy and improve the confidence of key players."

Lorgat will now visit Australia, New Zealand and England in an attempt to persuade players that their safety will be guaranteed.

He added: "To convince them is a big challenge and it's upon us to convey the message and to raise the confidence based on what we have seen and experienced that the security arrangements in place should be sufficient to have the event safe and secure."

Lorgat also suggested that Rawalpindi would be dropped as one of the venues, with all the matches being staged in Karachi and Lahore.

He said: "There is a strong likelihood that Karachi and Lahore will hold the matches, thus excluding Rawalpindi as one of the three venues."