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The global short-format cricket blueprint has officially made landfall in mainland Europe.
In late 2025, the Belgian Cricket Federation teamed up with private sports management firm Destino Legends Sports LLC to birth EUT20 Belgium, the continent’s very first sanctioned, high-performance professional franchise T20 cricket league.
Formulated specifically to expand the game beyond traditional associate boundaries, this hyper-condensed tournament aims to bridge the gap between top-tier global superstars and budding European domestic talent.
If you are trying to familiarise yourself with this brand-new addition to the global sporting calendar, here’s our guide to the franchises, rosters, and rules defining the inaugural season.
1. When and where does it take place?
The inaugural edition of EUT20 Belgium is scheduled to run across a lightning-fast, high-octane 9-day window from 6 June to 14 June 2026. To optimize infrastructure and maintain standard ICC playing pitches, the league is bypassing traditional multi-city travel.
Instead, all 18 scheduled matches will take place at a single, centralized venue: the specially prepared grass pitches of the 12 Stars Cricket Club in Hofstade, Zemst, situated just outside Brussels.
2. The five franchises
While a sixth team was originally drawn up in early planning, the tournament finalized into a highly competitive five-team city structure.
The five foundation clubs competing for the historic title include: Akcel United Brussels, Antwerp Anchors, Ghent Gladiators, JB Bruges, Liège Red Lions.
Also see: 2026 IPL Team of the Tournament – surprise inclusions and exclusions
3. Star-studded rosters and global ambassadors
The league made immediate global headlines by appointing World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan as its official Global Brand Ambassador.
The teams themselves feature an unbelievable mix of legendary veterans and active short-format mercenaries drafted alongside mandatory domestic Belgian qualifiers.
Elite players: Proteas icon Faf du Plessis anchors the Liège Red Lions alongside Chris Lynn, Corey Anderson, and Shoaib Malik. Antwerp Anchors boast West Indies powerhouse Andre Russell and David Wiese.
Meanwhile, Akcel United Brussels is completely loaded with star power, sporting Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Rilee Rossouw, and Shakib Al Hasan.
Coaching masterclasses: The backroom staff is equally elite. International coaching minds like Mark Boucher (Brussels), Jonathan Trott (Ghent), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Bruges), and South Africa‘s Herschelle Gibbs (Liège) have signed on to mastermind the franchises.
4. What’s up for grabs?
Beyond a massive global broadcasting reach – with matches beamed live internationally via major hubs like the Sony Sports Network and FanCode, the immediate prize is the inaugural European T20 Franchise Championship.
More importantly, local Belgian players have immense career growth on the line. Top domestic performers receive direct pathways to contracts in prominent global T20 leagues.
5. The competitive format
The league features a rapid-fire progression structure. The five franchises will first clash in a single round-robin group stage. Following the group stage, the 4th and 5th-placed teams square off in an elimination playoff.
The winner of that sudden-death shootout joins the top three league finishers in the high-stakes Super 4 phase, which ultimately determines the two grand finalists who will battle on Sunday, 14 June.
6. How it compares to global leagues
Unlike sprawling two-month spectacles like the IPL or the Big Bash League, EUT20 Belgium operates on a sprint format mimicking the highly successful Abu Dhabi T10 or the Major League Cricket (MLC) launch templates.
By consolidating all operations at the 12 Stars Cricket Club, it focuses heavily on high broadcast quality, dense schedules, and heavily international-flavoured playing XIs designed to rapidly cultivate a local sporting fanbase from scratch.
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The post European revolution – Everything you need to know about EUT20 Belgium appeared first on Cricket365.
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