The Netherlands and Ireland are nations hoped to develop cricket across Europe (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
New destinations have emerged on the cricket map, notably global cities New York and Los Angeles, as the British Commonwealth bat and ball sport starts expanding its footprint through the turbo-charged, three-hour Twenty20 format.
And cricket, proclaimed as the second biggest sport in the world by its self-aggrandizing administrators, hopes to start boasting well-heeled cricket franchises in iconic European cities such as Paris, Berlin, Barcelona and Rome.
It’s all part of grandiose plans for the European T20 Premier League, a franchise multi-nation tournament initially involving six cities from Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, who have long been the best performing nation on the continent.
The International Cricket Council sanctioned tournament, part-owned by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan, is set to launch in August 2026 and hopes to ignite cricket in Europe where the game has largely floundered despite close proximity to the U.K.
“You’ve got more strong nations coming through and having more competitive teams in Europe can underscore our objective to make cricket as successful as possible in a continent that is still growing its love for the game,” Warren Deutrom, chair of the European T20 Premier League, told me on the sidelines of the recent International Cricket Council meetings in Singapore.
“What we are strongly considering doing initially is opening up opportunities for each franchise squad to have one or two spots available to other European Associate members such as Italy, Germany and Spain where the game is strong.
“We think that’s a brilliant development opportunity for the game in Europe and provide opportunities like that can only make cricket a more successful global sport.”
Abhishek Bachchan (r) is co-owner of the European T20 league (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Dave Benett/Getty Images
There have been teething problems, with the original concept – called the Euro T20 Slam – failing to get off the ground in 2019. Things began to take shape after the Covid-19 pandemic, but a planned launch for mid-2025 never eventuated.
Having earmarked a space on cricket’s increasingly crowded calendar -it is set to follow The Hundred in the U.K. – the Euro league’s immediate task is to lure investors, with Indian Premier League owners, some of whom are ensconced in America’s Major League Cricket, and tech entrepreneurs in the U.S. among those likely to be courted.
“We were looking at launching in 2025, but six months wasn’t really enough to have a suitable time in the market to attract the various partners that we were looking for,” said Deutrom who recently left Cricket Ireland after a long stint as a top administrator.
“It didn’t mean that we were short of suitors. We had plenty of suitors, but we wanted the suitors to be at the suitable calibre.
“We’d be looking similar to what the ECB have done with the Hundred. Hopefully it pumps a lot of money into those three countries.
“We would love some of the world’s best players to be playing in our competition as well.”
Warren Deutrom has been a key instigator of setting up the T20 league in Europe (Photo by Donall Farmer/PA Images via Getty Images)
PA Images via Getty Images
While the creation of another T20 league – especially one that has already endured false starts – can lead to much eye-rolling, a fascinating element with this is the potential for cricket to move into such coveted terrain.
Europe does boast 34 ICC members, the most for a region, but cricket is still very much a fringe – or even invisible – sport across the continent.
The timing does feel right for a serious commercial venture to emerge in Europe. Italy created global headlines after recently qualifying for the T20 World Cup, which – as I first reported might move from its current 20-team format to 32 – while cricket administrators have been identifying fresh growth markets.
Germany – the third largest economy in the world – is starting to make waves with cricket there being ignited by a huge influx of Afghan refugees and migrants a decade ago.
A T20 franchise team in, let’s say, Berlin or Munich, boasting some of cricket’s biggest names mixed with the most talented German players, sounds particularly exciting for this quaint British sport that has endured plenty of snide remarks from those on the continent.
“It’s an interesting concept and it will be interesting to discuss with them how they plan to build it up,” Severin Weiss, the Deutscher Cricket Bund president, told me about the potential of an expanded European T20 Premier League.
“But we are concentrating on what we have to do in our own country to keep growing the sport in Germany.”
While franchises in Germany, as well as other European powers, might still be some time away, the T20 league is set to shine a spotlight in more developed – but still under-resourced – cricket cities such as Amsterdam, Belfast and Edinburgh.
“We’re coming at this very much from a cricketing perspective. First and foremost, we’re doing this because Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, don’t have loads of players in the world’s biggest franchise competitions,” Deutrom said.
“Of course, from a business perspective, it has to stack up. We want to invest in not just the literal physical infrastructure, but also the deep cricket roots in those countries.
“The game isn’t very mature commercially in continental Europe. However, sports marketing is very mature and well established across sports in Europe and there is massive headroom for growth.
“Europe is a really appealing market for cricket.”
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