The European T20 Premier League, sanctioned by the ICC in January 2025, didn’t make global headlines. No billion-dollar broadcast deals. Just six city-based teams across Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands are preparing for a 2026 launch.
For Associate cricket nations like Guernsey, the ETPL offers something more valuable than spectacle: infrastructure.
The Player Composition Rule
The ETPL’s most significant feature is buried in the player composition requirements: a minimum number of European-based players must appear in every squad. This rule turns an exclusive competition into a development mechanism.
Richard Headington, Chief Operating Officer of Guernsey Cricket, isn’t in the inaugural tournament. But he’s watching closely. The player composition rule means Guernsey’s cricketers—and those from dozens of other Associate nations—suddenly have a realistic path to professional contracts.
Associate players can’t make a living playing for their national teams. They can in the county system, but that often means choosing employment over country. The ETPL creates a third option: play professionally in Europe while remaining eligible and visible for national selection.
Why Europe, Why Now
The IPL’s broadcast rights sold for $6.2 billion. Investors are aggressively expanding portfolios into leagues in South Africa, the UAE, England, and the US. T20 leagues now operate in 23 countries across six continents.
But the ETPL isn’t trying to replicate the IPL’s concentrated city model. It’s distributed across three countries, testing whether cricket can sustain itself economically in emerging markets without depending on India’s massive audience or billion-dollar broadcast deals.
The evidence suggests it can. Germany’s participation rates increased by 89% between 2020 and 2025. The German Cricket Federation’s grassroots programs now operate in 156 cities. The Netherlands invested €85 million in cricket infrastructure since 2020—five new international-standard grounds and 47 community centers.
Italy’s qualification for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 proves that the growth is translating to competitive results. Germany and Spain are seeing similar participation spikes. The infrastructure is being built while interest is rising.
The Olympic Effect
In October 2023, the IOC approved cricket for LA2028. For nations like Germany and the United States, that decision changed funding immediately.
Germany’s Deutscher Cricket Bund joined the German Olympic Sports Confederation in 2024, unlocking federal high-performance funding from 2025. Government money that was previously locked became available. Corporate sponsors started paying attention. National sports institutes opened their facilities and talent identification programs to cricket.
The ETPL’s timing captures this shift. Smaller nations can now point to professional opportunities within their region when requesting Olympic-related funding. The league provides a concrete answer to the question: where will our Olympic athletes play professionally?
Guernsey’s Strategy: Build Before the Door Opens
Headington isn’t waiting for an ETPL invitation. Guernsey Cricket recently appointed Ilze van der Westhuizen as Cricket Development Manager and Head Coach of the Senior Women’s National Team.
The timing reflects a broader bet: women’s cricket is about to explode professionally, and the organizations that invest now will be ready when opportunities open.
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 in India broke attendance records, with the opening match alone drawing 22,843 fans—the highest ever for a group stage fixture at any ICC Women’s event. The tournament reached over 60 million viewers across its first 13 matches. Prize money increased fourfold from $3.5 million in 2022 to $13.88 million in 2025—surpassing the $10 million prize for the 2023 Men’s World Cup champions. In 2020, Brazil became the only ICC member with centrally-contracted women but no contracted men, signaling where some nations saw the future.
Guernsey is making a similar calculation. By investing in coaching infrastructure and women’s programs now, they’re building capabilities that will make them the obvious choice when European franchise leagues expand or launch women’s competitions.
Headington’s emphasis on technical, physical, and mental readiness isn’t about the 2026 season. It’s about being ready for 2028, 2030, and beyond.
What Franchise Leagues Prove
The model already works elsewhere. Major League Cricket in the USA drew over 70,000 fans and generated $2.8 million in ticket sales in its inaugural season. The ILT20 in the UAE featured performances from Associate players like UAE’s Muhammad Waseem and Namibia’s David Wiese—who earned spots in competitive environments, not charity selections.
The ETPL has structural advantages over those leagues. It’s ICC-sanctioned, operates across multiple established cricket nations, and is built on governance frameworks that make it investable. Most importantly, the player composition requirements write local development into the business model rather than hoping market forces create opportunities.
Cricket in the USA could become a $500 million market by 2030, driven by approximately $850 million in investment, including $120 million for Major League Cricket stadiums and training facilities. Europe is at a similar inflection point, but with a deeper cricket infrastructure already in place.
What the ICC Should Learn
The ETPL’s player composition requirement proves a simple truth: mandates work better than hoping market forces will create opportunities.
Associate teams cannot improve without playing regularly against Full Members. The ICC should mandate that every Full Member host or tour at least one Associate nation every two years. But mandates need incentives.
The ICC could apply the ETPL model to existing leagues. Work with the IPL, Big Bash, and other major leagues to incentivize one or two Associate players per squad through auction credits, fee rebates, or a dedicated “Associate Combine.” The goal: thirty-plus Associate cricketers under contract in top leagues within three years.
The ICC approved a 10% increase in funds to Associate Members for 2026. That’s $15 million spread across dozens of nations. Useful, but not transformative. Thirty professional contracts would inject more money into Associate cricket while providing high-performance training that no amount of grant funding can replicate.
The Diplomatic Game
Headington spends significant time maintaining relationships with Cricket Europe, the ICC, and neighboring cricket boards. For small nations in federated sports systems, access depends on continuous engagement rather than formal entitlements.
This isn’t bureaucracy. It’s how smaller organizations signal commitment and build the trust that leads to opportunities. When the ETPL eventually expands—or when a parallel league launches for smaller European nations—those relationships determine who gets considered.
The ETPL creates more of these connection points. Six teams mean six organizational relationships. Multiply that across coaching staff, player pathways, and governing body interactions. Each connection creates potential opportunities for players and organizations watching from the margins.
The Broader Shift
A European league independent of England, Australia, and India represents a subtle power shift. Cricket’s historical power structure—administrative control, commercial rights, competitive access—has been tightly held by Full Members. Regional leagues with inclusive composition requirements challenge that model.
Other sports are watching. Can distributed regional models compete with centralized mega-leagues for talent, investment, and audiences? The answer matters beyond cricket.
For Associate nations, the ETPL offers a clear playbook: position before the opportunity arrives. Invest in coaching infrastructure. Develop women’s programs alongside men’s pathways. Maintain relationships with governing bodies. Build the technical, physical, and mental readiness that makes you the obvious choice when spots open.
Guernsey won’t field a team in the 2026 ETPL. But if the league expands in 2028 or 2030, Headington’s organization will be ready. Their players will have professional-standard training. Their women’s program will be established. Their relationships with Cricket Europe and the ICC will be strong.
The ETPL won’t solve every challenge facing Associate cricket. But it proves that composition mandates can democratize access more effectively than funding increases or hoping market forces create opportunities.
That’s the revolution: building pathways through rules, not just policing boundaries with them. For smaller nations, that approach doesn’t just change opportunities—it creates them.