European T20 Premier League
European Twenty20 cricket league
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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
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. 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[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
The 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
Current
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 | Debut | Captain | Head coach | Owner(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam Flames |  Amsterdam |
2026 | Mitchell Marsh | Ryan Cook | Steve Waugh Jamie Dwyer Tim Thomas | |
| Dublin Guardians |  Dublin |
Ravichandran Ashwin | Rahul Dravid | |||
| Edinburgh Castle Rockers |  Edinburgh |
Mitchell Santner | James Foster | Nathan McCullum Kyle Mills | ||
| Glasgow Cosmic | Glasgow |
Matthew Hayden | Matthew Hayden Tansha Batra Mugafi Group | |||
| Belfast Wolves |  Belfast |
Glenn Maxwell | Kevin O'Brien | Rohan Lund Glenn Maxwell | ||
| Rotterdam Dockers | 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 | Malahide Cricket Ground, Malahide |
6 | ||||
Team performances
- 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.[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 |