ETPL Player Draft 2026: All You Need To Know

THE ETPL PLAYER DRAFT IS HERE

Today marks a defining moment for the European T20 Premier League. The ETPL Player Draft gets underway on 2nd July 2026, with all six franchises set to build the local core of their Season One squads.

The draft is the mechanism through which every ETPL team selects its associate-nation talent. Players eligible for selection come through Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland, and the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond (KNCB), meaning the draft is as much a celebration of grassroots cricket in these three nations as it is a squad-building exercise. Every pick made today will shape how each franchise lines up when the tournament.

You can follow the draft on: https://etpldraft.com/etpl/live 

HOW THE DRAFT ORDER WORKS

The order was not left to chance alone, but it started with one. Each of the six franchises was randomly assigned a Draft Number between 1 and 6, and that number determines the sequence of picks throughout the day. From there, the draft follows a snake format. Round 1 runs 1 through 6, Round 2 reverses and runs 6 through 1, Round 3 flips back to 1 through 6, and so on for the rounds that follow. The format ensures no franchise is stuck picking last in every round, giving each team a fair shot at the pool of available talent.

WHAT TO EXPECT TODAY

Six franchises. One pool of local players. And a draft order that keeps every team on its toes. With picks alternating direction round to round, war rooms across all six camps will be working through their boards in real time, weighing who is available against who they need.

The draft begins at 6:00 AM BST, which is 10:30 AM IST for fans following along from India.

WHY IT MATTERS

The ETPL was built on the idea that associate cricket deserves a stage of its own. The player draft is where that idea becomes squad sheets. Every name called today is a player from Ireland, Scotland, or the Netherlands stepping into a franchise system built to grow the game in markets that have long been starved of one. For fans, it is the first real glimpse of what Season One rosters will look like. For the players themselves, it is a shot at sharing a dressing room with some of the biggest names in world cricket.

Stay with ETPL through the day for live updates as the picks come in.

Follow the draft: https://etpldraft.com/etpl/live