EUROPEAN T20 PREMIER LEAGUE (ETPL) UNVEILS BOLD NEW GRIFFIN-INSPIRED IDENTITY
The European T20 Premier League (ETPL) has unveiled a new brand identity, created by sports creative agency MATTA, with inaugural squads for its six founding franchises revealed on Thursday, marking another major milestone ahead of the competition’s first season.
Franchise T20 cricket has become one of the sport’s fastest-growing formats across markets including India, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean and the USA. ETPL is the first pan-European franchise T20 competition, bringing that model to multiple nations under a single league.
Among the players included in the inaugural draft are international stars such as Faf Du Plessis, R Ashwin, Steve Smith, Heinrich Klaasen and Mitchell Marsh, while the league is backed by an experienced ownership group featuring cricketing greats Rahul Dravid, Steve Waugh, Jonty Rhodes and Matthew Hayden. Co-owner and Bollywood Star Abhishek Bachchan’s investment group is leading the commercial development of the competition.
Created through a partnership between Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond (KNCB), together with Rule X, an Ireland-based consortium, the league has been established to grow the game across Europe, providing a platform for emerging European talent while bringing world-class franchise cricket to new audiences. Recent results, including Ireland’s historic T20 series victory over India, have highlighted the growing strength of European cricket and the opportunity for a competition that can accelerate that momentum.
A new symbol for European cricket
The new ETPL identity has been developed by MATTA, whose previous work includes brand identity creation for global and major European sports properties such as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, ATP Tour, England Football and UEFA.
The brief was to create an identity capable of standing apart in an increasingly crowded franchise cricket landscape, while reflecting the unique coming together of European culture and modern T20 cricket.
At the centre of the identity sits a Griffin – a creature found throughout European mythology, reimagined to reflect the fast, fearless and fierce nature of modern T20 cricket.
The Griffin has been reinterpreted for ETPL, with six cricket bats forming the wings to represent the competition’s founding franchises, while bat and ball inspired geometry throughout the icon connects the symbol back to the sport itself.
The logo is the first public expression of the ETPL brand, with the wider visual identity and launch campaign set to be revealed ahead of the first season.
Priyanka Kaul, Co-Founder, European T20 Premier League, said: “Working closely with MATTA, we have created a distinctive identity that reflects the ambition and character of the European T20 Premier League. Their strategic thinking, creative vision and meticulous attention to detail have helped shape a brand that is authentic, memorable and proudly European.”
Abhishek Bachchan, Co-Founder, European T20 Premier League, said: “A league’s identity is far more than a logo – it reflects what the competition stands for. Our Griffin-inspired identity captures the spirit of the European T20 Premier League, drawing on Europe’s rich heritage while representing strength, unity and ambition. It marks another important step in building a league that will inspire players and supporters across Europe.”
Matt Campbell, Executive Creative Director, MATTA, said: “Creating a new sporting identity is always exciting, but opportunities to create the first symbol for an entirely new competition are rare. Our brief wasn’t simply to design another cricket logo. It was to create an identity that felt unmistakably European whilst also standing out amidst the world’s biggest T20 competitions. The Griffin gave us that opportunity. It’s a symbol with deep European roots that we’ve reinterpreted through the language of cricket to create something distinctive, memorable and unique to ETPL.”
The brand launch and player draft marked the first public chapter of the competition, with further announcements on the league’s wider brand and launch campaign to follow ahead of the inaugural season.
