Published on: Aug 24, 2026 11:10 am IST|Updated on: Aug 24, 2026 1:31 pm IST
The inaugural edition of Europe’s first premier franchise T20 tournament, i.e., the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), is all set to kick off on August 26. The league has been sanctioned by the International Cricket League (ICC) and will focus on promoting and upskilling the talent from associate nations who don’t get much exposure in franchise T20 leagues around the world.
The league has been co-founded by Indian Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan along with Saurav Banarhee, Dhiraj Malhotra, and Priyanka Kaul in partnership with three cricket nation boards, i.e., the Netherlands, Scotland, and Ireland.
The league featuring 6 teams will follow a simple double-round robin league stage format followed by a knockout stage. Each franchise will play the other twice, followed by two knockout games. The league will feature 32 games in total (30 group games and 2 knockouts).
The table leader will qualify for the finals directly, whereas the teams finishing second and third in the league stage will lock horns in the qualifier to book a ticket for the finals.
Here are some of the major rules for the playing XI of ETPL 2026.
Associate Player Exemption: All Associate nation cricketers—whether from Europe or elsewhere—are classified as local players for selection purposes.
By allowing Associate players to bypass the overseas marquee quota, teams can stack their lineups with top international talent outside the Test-playing circuit without consuming foreign player slots.
The league stage of the inaugural ETPL 2026 will commence on August 26 with a battle between the Rotterdam Dockers and Amsterdam Flames. Check out the full schedule below.
Check out the full squads of all six teams competing in the European T20 Premier League 2026 (ETPL 2026).
Squad: Mitchell Marsh (C), Max O Dowd, Steve Smith, Tim David, Yuvraj Samra, Ajinkya Rahane, Bas de Leede, David Rushmere, Michael Bracewell, Curtis Campher, Jordan Neill, Tim Pringle, Scott Edwards, Ali Hasan, Aryan Dutt, David Payne, Richard Gleeson, Kyle Klein
Squad: Mitchell Santner (C), Ross Adair, Gareth Delaney, JJ Smuts, Tom Bruce, Brandon McMullen, Jack Jarvis, Finlay McCreath, Tom Curran, Mark Watt, Shadab Khan, Andrie Gous, Oliver Jones, Trent Boult, Safyaan Sharif, Khuzaima Tanveer
Squad: Glenn Maxwell (C), Tim Tector, David Miller, Mark Chapman, Paul Stirling, Alexander Roy, Harry Manenti, Devon Conway, Lorcan Tucker, Matthew Humphreys, Fred Klaasen, Zainullah Ihsan, Saurabh Netravalkar, Chris Jordan, Gavin Hoey, Mark Adair, Crishan Kalugamage
Squad: George Munsey (C), Jason Roy, Christophe McBride, Richie Berrington, James Neesham, Liam Livingstone, Michael Leask, Moises Henriques, Matthew Cross, Oliver Davidson, Ali Khan, Brad Currie, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Paul van Meekren
Squad: Faf du Plessis (C), Vikramjit Singh, Michael Levitt, David Wiese, Shubham Ranjane, Jasper Davidson, Ben Manenti, Saqib Zulfiqar, Heinrich Klaasen, Logan Van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Anrich Nortje, Jai Moondra, Ryan Klein, Ben McDermott, Aneurin Donald
Squad: Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Benjamin Calitz, James Vince, Muhammad Waseem, Vijay Shankar, Daryl Mitchell, George Dockrell, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Noah Croes, Matthew Hollard, Craig Young, Chris Greaves, Chris Wood, Joshua Little, Peter Hatzoglou
Only two venues will be used in the ETPL 2026 season. The first leg of the tournament will be played in Sportpark Duivesteijn, Voorburg, in the Netherlands. The second leg, along with the two knockouts, will be played at the Village, Dublin, in Ireland.
Indian fans can catch all the action from the European Premier T20 League 2026 (ETPL 2026) through multiple platforms:
A fresh wave of T20 cricket is all set to flourish on the cricketing calendar in the form of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL). European teams will get their biggest exposure to franchise cricket, where players will look to make a mark and place themselves among modern-day cricket’s best.