The inaugural edition of the EUT20 Belgium Cricket League will take place in Brussels from June 4 to 14, featuring several franchise teams and an international roster of players, showcasing the growing appeal of T20 franchise cricket across Europe.

Confirmed players for the tournament include David Warner, Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Saim Ayub, Maaz Sadaqat, Martin Guptill, Sakib Ul Hasan, Colin Munro, Wayne Parnell, Chris Lynn, Sandeep Lamichhane, Shoaib Malik, Deep Airee and Rohit Paudel, making it a star-studded T20 league debuting in Europe.

Speaking to ANI, Eoin Morgan, who is the EUT20 League Ambassador, said, “It’s an extremely exciting time for Belgian cricket, associate cricket, and cricket in general. Cricket has grown a huge amount in the last two decades since the start of IPL, essentially, and a lot of leagues around the world are capitalising on the opportunity. And for a young cricketer growing up in Belgium or Europe, this is a huge opportunity to go and rub shoulders with some of the best players in the world, but also some of the players who have been there and done that at the highest level.”

He added, “So I’m extremely excited. An opportunity like this doesn’t exist in associate cricket, so hopefully it is a success and is here for the long term.”

Morgan also highlighted that such leagues provide a vital platform for talented young players from countries with limited cricket infrastructure to access pathways to the top level, adding, “What it does is, cricketing nations where there isn’t a rigorous infrastructure available for a young player to come through, a talented young player to find a pathway to go and play at the top level, it creates a platform to elevate that young player. See, currently at the IPL with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, last year just bursting onto the scene as a fourteen-year-old. So for other leagues around the world, they create that opportunity to be broadcast around and allow people to see them playing.”

Former Indian cricketer Kiran More described the league as “excellent news for European nations” and called it a “tremendous opportunity” for local cricketers. He said, “I am extremely excited, as the EUT20 Belgium League is taking place in Europe for the very first time. This is excellent news for European nations and presents a tremendous opportunity for their cricketers, particularly because they rarely get such chances otherwise. They typically play in smaller, local leagues, so this represents a fantastic opportunity for them, especially given that it is a historic first occurrence. This marks the beginning of what is set to become a massive tournament; it will grow steadily, year by year, from the first season to the second and third.”

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan also expressed enthusiasm for the tournament, stating, “I’m very much excited about this tournament. I think it will be a great tournament with all the big names of the game already there. So I’m very hopeful that it will be a good success in Belgium. I’m hopeful that there will be some great talents who, in the future five to ten years, they’ll rule the cricketing world.”