John Abraham Sourav Ganguly. Image Credits: AFP
Bollywood actor John Abraham, after having a successful career as a model and as an actor, has set his eyes on the cricketing field as well. Abraham, who already owns a football franchise in the Indian Super League, is now set to co-own a team, the Rotterdam team, in the ETPL tournament. The tournament will run from August 26 to September 20.
Abraham is the co-owner of the NorthEast United FC in the Indian Super League and has been involved in different sports thanks to his fitness culture and interests. This is the first time Abraham has entered the cricket arena and associated himself with a new tournament.
What is ETPL? Where will it be played?
A new professional T20 cricket competition in Europe is set to begin, with it being named the European T20 Premier League competition (ETPL 2026). It will take place every summer starting in 2026 and will be organized by Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland, and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association. Six teams from Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Netherlands will make up the League.
The ETPL is expected to be played in a round-robin format, with each team facing the others once each. The top four teams will reach the playoffs, similar to that of the Indian Premier League. The tournament will follow ICC rules.
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Which are the ETPL teams?
There will be six franchises in the ETPL 2026 tournament. These franchises are Amsterdam Flames, Dublin Guardians, Edinburgh Castle Rockers, Glasgow Cosmic, Belfast Wolves, and Rotterdam Rockers. The Amsterdam Flames are owned by Steve Waugh, Jamie Dwyer, and Tim Thomas.
The Dublin team is owned by Rahul Dravid, while Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills own the Edinburgh franchise. Chris Gayle owns the Glasgow team; Glenn Maxwell owns the Belfast Wolves. Jonty Rhodes, Heinrich Klassen, and Faf du Plessis own the Rotterdam team, but they have added a new co-owner as well.
John Abraham becomes co-owner of the Rotterdam franchise in ETPL
Bollywood actor John Abraham has joined the ownership group of Jonty Rhodes, Faf du Plessis, and Heinrich Klaasen of the Rotterdam Rockers franchise in the inaugural European T20 Premier League.
"Cricket has the power to inspire, unite, and create opportunities, and that's exactly what excites me about the European T20 Premier League. Europe represents one of cricket's most exciting growth markets, and Rotterdam Dockers has the vision, leadership, and ambition to build something truly special,” Abraham said in an official release.
Welcoming Abraham to the Rotterdam Dockers, Abhishek Bachchan, co-founder of ETPL, said, "John's passion for sport and his track record as a sports entrepreneur make him a fantastic addition to the Rotterdam Dockers' ownership group."
The venues for the ETPL 2026 tournament will be the VRA Cricket Ground in the Netherlands, Malahide Cricket Ground in Ireland, The Grange Club in Scotland, and Stormont Cricket Ground in Northern Ireland. The tournament will feature 32 games in all, including four playoff games as well.
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