The European T20 Premier League (ETPL) is an upcoming professional Twenty20 cricket league in Europe. It is organised by Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland, and Royal Dutch Cricket Association, and played during summer from 2026. The League comprises six teams across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, and Scotland.[1][2][3]
 | |
| Countries | |
|---|---|
| Administrator | |
| Format | T20 cricket |
| First edition | 2026 |
| Next edition | 2027 |
| Tournament format | Round-robin league and playoffs |
| Number of teams | 6 |
| Website | etplofficial |
History
editEuro T20 Slam
editIn March 2019, Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association officially announced a sanctioned cross-border European Twenty20 professional franchise tournament, the Euro T20 Slam,[4] originally for six teams. The initial player draft was held. The organiser, which was also responsible for the Canadian Global T20 tournament, announced a number of postponements as a combination of organisational issues and the COVID-19 pandemic effectively rendered the tournament abandoned.
European T20 Premier League
editIn January 2025, it was confirmed that a broadly similar venture[5] with the same boards and six initial teams, had received the International Cricket Council's sanction to begin play in July 2025, effectively rebranding the T20 Slam as European T20 Premier League.[6][7][5] The event avoids most of the southern hemisphere and Caribbean franchise tournaments, including the Indian Premier League. Bollywood entertainer Abhishek Bachchan was announced as part owner of the league, at the same time as its sanctioning.[8] The tournament was postponed again to 2026.[1]
Format
editThe ETPL is played in a single round-robin format, where each team faces the other once during the league stage. The top four teams at the end of the group stage qualify for the playoffs, which follow the Page playoff system.
The league operates under the International Cricket Council regulations. In the group stage, teams are awarded two points for a win, one point for a no-result, and zero points for a loss. If a match ends in a tie after both sides have completed their allotted overs, a super over is used to decide the winner.
Teams in the league stage are ranked based on:
- Higher number of points
- If equal, better net run rate
- If equal, higher number of wins
- If equal, fewer losses
- If still equal, results of head-to-head matches
In the playoffs, if a super over cannot be played or also ends in a tie, the team that finished higher in the league stage is declared the winner.
Teams
editCurrent
edit
In January 2025, names of the host cities were announced.[9] On 21 January, the ETPL announced the first three franchise owners, Amsterdam Flames, Edinburgh Castle Rockers, and Belfast Wolves.[10][11][12] On 20 April, Glasgow Mugafians was announced as one of the franchises.[13] On 28 April, the franchise rebranded to Glasgow Cosmic.[14] On 30 April, Jonty Rhodes, Faf du Plessis, and Heinrich Klaasen were announced as the owners of Rotterdam Dockers.[15][16] On 11 May, the final team was announced as the Dublin Guardians, with Rahul Dravid led consortium as their owners.[17]
| Team | City | Home ground | Debut | Captain | Head coach | Owner(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam Flames |  Amsterdam |
VRA Cricket Ground | 2026 | Mitchell Marsh | Ryan Cook | Steve Waugh Jamie Dwyer Tim Thomas | |
| Dublin Guardians |  Dublin |
Malahide Cricket Ground | Ravichandran Ashwin | Rahul Dravid | |||
| Edinburgh Castle Rockers |  Edinburgh |
The Grange Club | Mitchell Santner | James Foster | Nathan McCullum Kyle Mills | ||
| Glasgow Cosmic | Glasgow |
The Grange Club | Matthew Hayden | Matthew Hayden Tansha Batra Mugafi Group | |||
| Belfast Wolves |  Belfast |
Stormont Cricket Ground | Glenn Maxwell | Kevin O'Brien | Rohan Lund Glenn Maxwell | ||
| Rotterdam Dockers | Rotterdam |
VRA Cricket Ground | Faf du Plessis | Adrian Birrell | Jonty Rhodes Faf du Plessis Heinrich Klaasen John Abraham | ||
Seasons and results
edit| Season | Final | Player of the series | No. of teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Result | Runners-up | Venue | |||
| 2026 | ||||||
Team performances
editSeasons Teams |
2026 |
|---|---|
| Amsterdam Flames | |
| Dublin Guardians | |
| Edinburgh Castle Rockers | |
| Glasgow Cosmic | |
| Belfast Wolves | |
| Rotterdam Dockers |
- C: Champions
- RU: Runner-up
- SF: Team qualified for the semi-final of the competition
Venues
edit| Netherlands | Ireland | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| VRA Cricket Ground | Malahide Cricket Ground | The Grange Club | Stormont Cricket Ground |
| Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 11,500 | Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 7,000 |
Broadcasting
editThe 2026 season of the European T20 Premier League will be broadcast live on the following channels.[18]
| Region(s)/countries | Television rights | Streaming rights |
|---|---|---|
| Indian subcontinent | Star Sports | JioHotstar |
| United Kingdom | TNT Sports | HBO Max |
| Ireland | ||
| United States | Willow | Cricbuzz |
| Canada | ||
| Middle East and North Africa | N/a | |
| Southeast Asia | N/a |
References
edit- 1 2 "European T20 Premier League: Franchise tournament in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands will be postponed". BBC Sport. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
- ↑ "New tournament for 2025". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ↑ "Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands combine for new T20 franchise tournament". The Cricketer. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ↑ "Euro T20 Slam organisers eye August window confirmed". ESPNcricinfo. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- 1 2 "ICC sanction new European T20 Premier League". RTE News. 4 January 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ↑ "ICC announces formal sanction of European T20 Premier League". Sportstar. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ↑ "ICC Greenlights European T20 Premier League for 2025". Footboom. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ↑ Dixon, Ed (7 January 2025). "European T20 Premier League bags investment from Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan". SportsPro. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
- ↑ "Abhishek Bachchan becomes co-owner of ICC-sanctioned European T20 Premier League". BrandWagon Online. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
- ↑ "Waugh invests in European T20 Premier League". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
- ↑ "Smith, Marsh to play in new Europe-based T20 league; Waugh, Maxwell among owners". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
- ↑ "ETPL unveils Steve Waugh, Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Mills as owners". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
- ↑ "ETPL, Led By Abhishek Bachchan, Announces Glasgow Franchise. Chris Gayle, Mugafi Group Acquire Team Ownership". NDTV. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
- ↑ "Glasgow Cosmic". Retrieved 28 April 2026 – via X.
- ↑ "SA stars Jonty, Faf, Klaasen acquire Rotterdam franchise in ETPL". ANI. 30 April 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- ↑ "Du Plessis, Rhodes, Klaasen join forces in 'easy business decision' to co-own ETPL team". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- ↑ "ETPL: Rahul Dravid acquires Dublin Guardians franchise for European T20 tournament". BBC Sport. 11 May 2026. Retrieved 12 May 2026.
- ↑ "ETPL ANNOUNCES JIOSTAR, TNT SPORTS, WILLOW & CRICBUZZ AS BROADCAST PARTNERS". European T20 Premier League. 10 July 2026. Retrieved 12 July 2026.