The ICC-sanctioned European T20 Premier League (ETPL) on Wednesday unveiled Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Belfast as the first franchise cities for the new competition, which is set to begin in the final week of August this year.
The league also confirmed the ownership groups for the franchises with the Amsterdam side owned by a consortium led by former Australia captain Steve Waugh, alongside five-time World Player of the Year and Olympic gold medallist Jamie Dwyer, and Tim Thomas, former CEO of the Centre for Australia-India Relations and ex-partner at KPMG Australia.
The Edinburgh franchise will be jointly owned by former New Zealand internationals Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills, with Mills having previously held the ICC’s No.1 ranking in ODI bowling. Belfast, meanwhile, will be owned by Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell in partnership with Rohan Lund, the former Group CEO of NRMA.
The European T20 Premier League is owned and operated through a joint venture between Rules Global (Rules X) and Cricket Ireland, a Full Member of the ICC. The league has been co-founded by Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan, Saurav Banerjee, Priyanka Kaul and Dhiraj Malhotra, and is supported through formal partnerships with Cricket Scotland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB).
The launch comes at a time when European cricket is gaining momentum, with Italy qualifying for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and England, Ireland and Scotland set to host the global event.