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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) might not be interested in playing bilateral matches with the Afghanistan National Cricket Team, but they are likely to provide their players with No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for the newly founded Afghanistan Premier League (APL). APL is set to mark a fresh start with new franchises and a whole lot of new arrangements.
By the end of October, the league is likely to hold the players' auction. The players' auction was originally scheduled to be held in September, but was pushed back to October. For the auction, players will have to register their names.
Multiple England cricketers have registered themselves for the Afghanistan Premier League
Due to ECB's previous stance against the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), because of the Taliban-led government, English players were in doubt about taking part in the league. Cricinfo, in its report, claimed that the England cricket board is likely to provide NOCs to their players who would like to play in Afghanistan's league.
Ollie Pope and Luke Woods, two central contracted players, have expressed their interest in playing the inaugural season of APL. James Vince, Moeen Ali, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Laurie Evans are other English cricketers who have registered themselves for the league. Afghanistan cricketers also played for the domestic English teams recently.
Noor Ahmad played for the Manchester Super Giants and Rashid Khan for MI London in the Hundred this year, while Fazalhaq Farooqi featured for Glamorgan in the T20 Blast. According to Cricinfo, ECB will have no issue providing their players NOCs as long as the franchise league is approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
England had sought to boycott a Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan
During the group stage of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, England was on the verge of boycotting their match against the Afghanistan cricket team. Over 160 UK cross-party politicians and lawmakers urged the ECB to refuse the fixture regarding the Taliban regime's oppression of women. The Taliban-led Afghan government's strict rules restricting and banning women and girls from participating in sports and public life put the England vs Afghanistan match in jeopardy.
Amid the controversy, ECB supported the call to boycott the match, but also mentioned that a boycott would not be an appropriate solution to resolve the matter. The match went ahead as per the original schedule, with the England cricket team losing the match surprisingly to the Afghanistan cricket team by 8 wickets.
APL is set to start on December 27, 2026
As the ECB openly criticized the Afghanistan government for its policy against women and girls, it was assumed that the ECB could restrict its players from participating in the Afghanistan Premier League. However, the operations between the cricket boards of these two nations are smooth enough to allow players to play for their respective domestic and franchise teams.
The APL is scheduled to launch on December 27 and will be run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) along with promoters Trans Group and ITW Universe. The matches are likely to be played in the United Arab Emirates.
