Following continued uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, the European Cricket League (ECL) has been forced to postpone the second-staging of the tournament until 2022.
ECL21 was scheduled to start on May 30 in Spain, featuring 16 champion clubs from 15 different countries spread over four weeks of T10 action. Over 300 players and officials were due to travel to Spain for the prestigious event.
However, after weighing up the reality of the current situation and the outlook for the coming months, the ECL (European Cricket League) has been postponed for a second consecutive year.
"The turnaround in the situation has not happened swiftly enough for an international event with this many teams and players competing at one venue, said ECL Founder Daniel Weston.
“Unfortunately, we continue to be confronted with a health and well-being situation that hampers our chances to hold the ECL and elevate the game to a higher level. The strict restrictions on PCR testing, travel concerns and quarantines being enforced make it impossible to plan. Therefore, we now have to take a deep breath, postpone again, and set our sights on 2022.”
Hailed as “the Champions League of European cricket,” we envisage staging the next ECL in 2022 with an expanded 30 team tournament. To our existing valued Federations, we welcome the addition of the Federations and Champion Clubs of Jersey, Guernsey, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Portugal, Bulgaria, Malta, Turkey, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece plus two more to be confirmed.
ECL22 will take place over seven weeks at Cartama Oval, Malaga, Spain. In the six group weeks starting on February 7, 2022, five teams will compete each week before a Finals Week from March 21-25 2022.
Further details on qualification for next year’s event will be determined by ECL management after consultation with each respective cricket Federation.
This year’s valued partners and suppliers for ECL21 have already expressed their continued willingness to support the European Cricket League at the next edition as we strive to take cricket in Europe to a higher level.
