Rashid Khan, Afghanistan stars to be banned from MLC 2025? Donald Trump's travel ban sparks chaos
Published - 06 Jun 2025, 12:05 PM | Updated - 06 Jun 2025, 11:34 PM
Major League Cricket (MLC) hopes Afghanistan’s star players will participate in the third season of competition despite US President Donald Trump signing a travel ban on Afghanistan’s residents, which will come into effect from June 9, Monday.
Many Afghanistan players were signed by different franchises for MLC 2025, such as Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Naveen-ul-haq, Noor Ahmed, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and many more.
Travel ban for Afghanistan players?
US President Donald Trump proclaimed that there will be full restrictions and limit the entry of 12 countries into the United States of America. There is only one country whose players play the game on a senior level, and that is Afghanistan.
Trump wants to protect the national security and interests of the United States and its people, and to protect these things, the ban has been imposed by the President. Other than Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen are the 11 countries, whose people will not be able to enter the US after June 9.
The US President also stated that the proclamation shall apply only to foreign nationals of these 12 countries who are outside the US after June 5 (which is the date when the proclamation was declared by Trump) and didn’t have a valid visa on the effective date of the proclamation.
MLC might be classified as a ‘major sporting event’
The travel ban will be effective on June 9, but the ban also includes an exemption for any athlete or member of an athletic team travelling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event might get permission from the Secretary of the US.
A league official revealed that the franchises are hopeful that MLC will be classified as a ‘major sporting event’ by the Secretary of the United States, which would make it possible for Afghan players to participate in MLC 2025, reported ESPNcricinfo.
MLC spokesperson monitoring the participation of Afghan players
According to the ESPNcricinfo report, franchises are exploring all the possibilities to enable Afghanistan’s players to play in MLC 2025. The first thing they are thinking is to get the affected players in the US before the travel ban kicks in.
An MLC spokesperson stated that they’re monitoring the situation and are in state of talks with the authorities to allow the participation of restricted players ahead of the start of the tournament.
"We're continuing to monitor the situation and are working with the relevant authorities to minimise travel disruptions for overseas players ahead of the start of Major League Cricket next week. We continue to attract some of the best players from around the world to come over to the US to showcase their talent, along with the best cricketers from the USA, and we are set to have the most exciting tournament to date this summer," an MLC spokesperson stated.
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Afghanistan National Cricket Team MLC Donald Trump Rashid Khan Noor Ahmad Naveen ul Haq Fazalhaq Farooqi
