European T20 Premier League

European T20 Premier League
Tournament logo
Countries
FormatT20 cricket
First edition2026
Next edition2027
Tournament formatRound-robin league and playoffs
Number of teams6
Websiteetplofficial.com

The European T20 Premier League (ETPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Europe. It comprises six franchise teams, representing major cities in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, and Scotland.[1][2][3] The inaugural season will be played from 26 August to 20 September 2026. The ICC-sanctioned league was co-founded by Indian actor and sports entrepreneur Abhishek Bachchan and three other Indian investors, in a strategic partnership with Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland, and Royal Dutch Cricket Association.[4]

History

Euro T20 Slam

In 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,[5] 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

In January 2025, it was confirmed that a broadly similar venture[6] 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.[7][8][6] 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.[9] The tournament was postponed again to 2026.[1]

The inaugural season of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL) will take place from August 26 to September in Voorburg.[10]

Format

The ETPL is played in a double round-robin format, where each team faces the other twice during the league stage. The top three teams at the end of the group stage qualify for the playoffs, with the first placed team proceeding directly to the final while the second and third placed teams contest a qualifier semi-final.

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, a super over is used to decide the winner. If the Super over is tied, up to two subsequent super overs may be played.

Teams in the league stage are ranked based on:

  1. Higher number of points
  2. If equal, best net run rate
  3. If equal, most wickets taken per fair balls bowled in complete matches
  4. If still equal, by drawing of lots

In the playoffs, if a super over cannot be played or two subsequent super overs also ends in a tie, the team that finished higher in the league stage is declared the winner.

Teams

Current

In January 2025, the six represented cities were announced.[11] On 21 January, the ETPL announced the first three franchise owners, Amsterdam Flames, Edinburgh Castle Rockers, and Belfast Wolves.[12][13][14] On 20 April, Glasgow Mugafians was announced as one of the franchises.[15] On 28 April, the franchise rebranded to Glasgow Cosmic.[16] On 30 April, Jonty Rhodes, Faf du Plessis, and Heinrich Klaasen were announced as the owners of Rotterdam Dockers.[17][18] On 11 May, the final team was announced as the Dublin Guardians, with Rahul Dravid led consortium as their owners.[19]

Team City Debut Captain Head coach Owner(s)
Amsterdam Flames Netherlands Amsterdam 2026 Scott Edwards Ryan Cook Steve Waugh
Jamie Dwyer
Tim Thomas
Belfast Wolves Northern Ireland Belfast Glenn Maxwell Kevin O'Brien Rohan Lund
Glenn Maxwell
Dublin Guardians Republic of Ireland Dublin Ravichandran Ashwin Rahul Dravid Rahul Dravid
Edinburgh Castle Rockers Scotland Edinburgh Mitchell Santner James Foster Nathan McCullum
Kyle Mills
Glasgow Cosmic Scotland Glasgow George Munsey Matthew Hayden Matthew Hayden
Tansha Batra
Mugafi Group
Rotterdam Dockers Netherlands Rotterdam Faf du Plessis Adrian Birrell Jonty Rhodes
Faf du Plessis
Heinrich Klaasen
John Abraham

Seasons and results

Season Final No. of teams Player of the series
Champions Result Runners-up Venue
2026 Republic of Ireland
Malahide Cricket Ground, Malahide		 6

Team performances

Seasons

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

Broadcasting

The 2026 season of the European T20 Premier League will be broadcast live on the following channels.[20][21]

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 & North Africa
Southeast Asia
Australia Fox Sports Kayo Sports

References

  1. 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.
  2. ↑ "New tournament for 2025". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  3. ↑ "Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands combine for new T20 franchise tournament". The Cricketer. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  4. ↑ "Smith, Marsh to play in new Europe-based T20 league; Waugh, Maxwell among owners". cricinfo.com. 21 January 2026.
  5. ↑ "Euro T20 Slam organisers eye August window confirmed". ESPNcricinfo. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  6. 1 2 "ICC sanction new European T20 Premier League". RTE News. 4 January 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  7. ↑ "ICC announces formal sanction of European T20 Premier League". Sportstar. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  8. ↑ "ICC Greenlights European T20 Premier League for 2025". Footboom. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  9. ↑ Dixon, Ed (7 January 2025). "European T20 Premier League bags investment from Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan". SportsPro. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  10. ↑ Muthu, Deivarayan (25 August 2026). "European T20 Premier League: All you need to know". Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Abhishek Bachchan becomes co-owner of ICC-sanctioned European T20 Premier League". BrandWagon Online. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  12. ↑ "Waugh invests in European T20 Premier League". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  13. ↑ "Smith, Marsh to play in new Europe-based T20 league; Waugh, Maxwell among owners". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  14. ↑ "ETPL unveils Steve Waugh, Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Mills as owners". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  15. ↑ "ETPL, Led By Abhishek Bachchan, Announces Glasgow Franchise. Chris Gayle, Mugafi Group Acquire Team Ownership". NDTV. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  16. ↑ "Glasgow Cosmic". Retrieved 28 April 2026 – via X.
  17. ↑ "SA stars Jonty, Faf, Klaasen acquire Rotterdam franchise in ETPL". ANI. 30 April 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  18. ↑ "Du Plessis, Rhodes, Klaasen join forces in 'easy business decision' to co-own ETPL team". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  19. ↑ "ETPL: Rahul Dravid acquires Dublin Guardians franchise for European T20 tournament". BBC Sport. 11 May 2026. Retrieved 12 May 2026.
  20. ↑ "ETPL ANNOUNCES JIOSTAR, TNT SPORTS, WILLOW & CRICBUZZ AS BROADCAST PARTNERS". European T20 Premier League. 10 July 2026. Retrieved 12 July 2026.
  21. ↑ "ETPL 2026 Broadcasting & Live Streaming: TV Channels & Platforms". ETPL Live. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
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