European T20 Premier League

European T20 Premier League

Countries	Ireland Netherlands Northern Ireland Scotland
Administrator	Cricket Scotland Cricket Ireland Royal Dutch Cricket Association
Format	T20 cricket
First edition	2026
Next edition	2026
Tournament format	Round-robin league and Playoffs
Number of teams	6
Website	eurocrick.com

The European T20 Premier League (ETPL) is an upcoming professional twenty20 cricket league in Europe. It will be organised by Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland, and Royal Dutch Cricket Association, and will be played during summer each year from 2026. The League will comprise six teams across Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland ^[a] , and the Netherlands. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

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, ^[4] originally for six teams and for which an initial player draft was held. The organiser, which was also responsible for the Canadian Global T20 tournament, announced a number of postponements in the following years, but a combination of organisational issues and the COVID-19 pandemic effectively rendered the tournament abandoned without holding one season.

European T20 Premier League

In January 2025 it was confirmed that a broadly similar venture, ^[5] again with the same three boards and privately funded, but organised by a committee to be put together by the three national boards themselves, and with six initial teams, had received International Cricket Council sanction to begin play in July 2025, effectively replacing the defunct Euro T20 Slam branding with a new European T20 Premier League. ^{[6] [7] [5]} Scheduled for July and early August 2025, 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 has been postponed again to 2026. ^[1] On 21 January ETPL announced first 3 franchise owner in Sydney which are Amsterdam Flames, Edinburgh Castle Rockers and Irish Wolves. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Teams

Current teams

170km
106miles

6

5

4

3

2

1

   

Locations of European T20 Premier League teams in Europe.

Ireland 1 Dublin Northern Ireland 2 Belfast

Scotland 3 Edinburgh 4 Glasgow

Netherlands 5 Amsterdam 6 Rotterdam

January 2025 only the names of host city has been announced. ^[12] In January 2026, three of six team names and owners were announced. ^{[13] [14] [15]}

Team	City	Home ground	Debut	Captain	Head coach	Owner(s)
Amsterdam Flames	Amsterdam	VRA Cricket Ground	2026	Mitchell Marsh		Steve Waugh, Jamie Dwyer, Tim Thomas
Dublin	Dublin	Malahide Cricket Ground
Edinburgh Castle Rockers	Edinburgh	The Grange Club		Mitchell Santner		Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills
Glasgow	Glasgow	The Grange Club
Irish Wolves	Belfast	Stormont Cricket Ground		Glenn Maxwell		Glenn Maxwell, Rohan Lund
Rotterdam	Rotterdam	VRA Cricket Ground

References

1. "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. "Euro T20 Slam organisers eye August window confirmed". ESPNcricinfo. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
5. "ICC sanction new European T20 Premier League". RTE News. 4 January 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
6. "ICC announces formal sanction of European T20 Premier League". Sportstar. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
7. "ICC Greenlights European T20 Premier League for 2025". Footboom. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
8. Dixon, Ed (7 January 2025). "European T20 Premier League bags investment from Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan". SportsPro. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
9. "Waugh invests in European T20 Premier League". BBC Sport . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
10. "Smith, Marsh to play in new Europe-based T20 league; Waugh, Maxwell among owners". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
11. "ETPL unveils Steve Waugh, Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Mills as owners". Cricbuzz . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
12. "Abhishek Bachchan becomes co-owner of ICC-sanctioned European T20 Premier League". BrandWagon Online. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
13. "Waugh invests in European T20 Premier League". BBC Sport . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
14. "Smith, Marsh to play in new Europe-based T20 league; Waugh, Maxwell among owners". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
15. "ETPL unveils Steve Waugh, Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Mills as owners". Cricbuzz . Retrieved 21 January 2026.

1. Northern Ireland doesn't have a cricket association, but at least one team is likely to be from Belfast.