The ETPL Explained: Europe's New T20 Franchise League
The European T20 Premier League's six teams, format, venues and star names, and why the league exists at all.
Written by the Scoresque editors. Last updated 2026-08-31.
Cricket's franchise map gained a new continent in August 2026: the European T20 Premier League, or ETPL, the first major franchise T20 competition based in continental Europe and the British Isles' associate scene. If the name is new to you, here is everything the first edition involves.
What the ETPL is
The ETPL is a six-team franchise Twenty20 league built on the cricket markets of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, played across roughly four weeks from late August to late September. Like the IPL and its imitators, the teams are privately owned city franchises rather than existing clubs, and the playing squads mix overseas stars with local Irish, Scottish and Dutch professionals - which is much of the point: the league exists to give Europe's associate-nation players regular exposure to elite teammates, opponents and coaches without leaving home.
The six franchises
- Amsterdam Flames and Rotterdam Dockers carry the Dutch flag, with Faf du Plessis leading Rotterdam and Ajinkya Rahane turning out for Amsterdam.
- Dublin Guardians and Belfast Wolves represent Ireland, north and south - Ravichandran Ashwin captains Dublin, Glenn Maxwell leads Belfast.
- Edinburgh Castle Rockers and Glasgow Cosmic complete the field from Scotland, with Mitchell Santner among the captains.
Beyond the captains, the first edition's squads include names of the calibre of Steve Smith, Heinrich Klaasen, Trent Boult, Liam Livingstone and David Miller - a genuinely strong overseas contingent for a debut league.
Format and schedule
The 2026 edition runs 32 matches. The six teams play a double round-robin league phase of 30 matches - everyone meets everyone twice - before a Qualifier and a Final settle the title. The league phase opens in Voorburg in the Netherlands, which hosts the first half of the fixtures, then moves to Malahide, near Dublin, for the second half and the finals. Standard T20 rules apply: 20 overs a side, and the usual points system of two for a win with net run rate as the tiebreaker (if the run-rate maths is a mystery, our guide to how cricket's formats work and the DLS method cover the machinery).
Why it matters
European cricket outside England has long had a visibility problem: Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands all beat Test nations at recent World Cups, yet their players have few professional stages at home. A franchise league with television reach and star names changes the economics - local players earn meaningful contracts, and scouts see them next to established internationals on the same pitch. Whether the ETPL becomes a fixture of the calendar depends, as always, on broadcast money and season two, but the first edition's playing strength is well beyond what a debut associate-market league usually attracts.
Where Scoresque stands on coverage
Full transparency, in line with how our coverage works: our licensed ball-by-ball data providers do not yet carry the ETPL, so we cannot show its live scorecards the way we do for the leagues on our cricket hub. Our news desk covers the league's major stories - results, records and star performances - and this guide is kept current. If our providers add the league, live coverage follows.