England’s last-gasp win provided an incredible climax to the 2019 Cricket World Cup and the excitement is mounting as a new event is set to make a similar global impact when the European Cricket League (ECL) commences today in Spain.
Billed as cricket’s equivalent to football’s showpiece UEFA Champions League competition, ECL19 will be held for the first time at the prestigious La Manga Club from July 29-31, with the domestic champions of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and Spain competing for the chance to be crowned as continental Europe club cricket’s ‘Kings of Europe’.
ECL19 features champion teams from Dreux (France), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Svanholm (Denmark), Bremen (Germany), St. Petersburg (Russia), Brescia (Italy) and Cluj (Romania). Starring players from 18 different countries, not only from traditional cricket-playing strongholds, but bolstered by many talented cricketers with refugee backgrounds forced to flee to Europe. These potential future stars could make a stunning breakthrough in this exciting new tournament.
“There has never been a European-wide league of this nature and it’s our desire to make the ECL the flagship competition in continental Europe. The team behind the league can boast vast experience of organising and promoting events of this nature to a global broadcast audience, and we can’t wait to get started,” said Daniel Weston, founder of the ECL.
Packing 17 matches into a T10 format over three days, interest in the competition is massive, with all matches televised live in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia across a combination of broadcast, digital and social channels, including the newly-launched European Cricket Network.
Teams are split into two groups of four with matches being played on a round-robin basis, with the top two from each progressing to contest the semi-finals and final for Wednesday’s thrilling climax.
La Manga, Spain – Contact: Benedict Mirow – press@ecl.cricket
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