European cricket: Dream11 set to pull sponsorship, putting future tournaments in doubt

Clips from matches organised by ECN have showcased the best, and worst, of European cricket and a number of them have gone viral on social media.

Romania international Pavel Florin, who works as a bodyguard, shot to cricketing fame in an early tournament for his unorthodox bowling style.

However, a change in Indian law is set to have a major impact on ECN which is heavily reliant on financial backing from a partnership with Dream11, India’s biggest fantasy sports platform.

On Thursday, India’s parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025 which will ban online games played with money.

Dream11 is poised to pull the plug on its involvement with the ECN when the bill is signed off by India president Droupadi Murmu. This is expected to be within the next month.

Australian Daniel Weston, who founded the ECN, told BBC Sport it was a “devastating” blow and cricket in Europe “risks being pushed back 20 years” and “may never regain that momentum”.

“Fantasy sports have provided unmatched financial support to help grow cricket, especially in Associate nations, creating opportunities for both men and women,” he said.

“Our vision was to make cricket the number one bat-and-ball team sport in Europe. Now, those hopes feel shattered.

“It is a very sad moment for cricketers, cricket fans, and the children of cricketers all over the world, who will now likely not grow up in a world that is developing cricket outside of the big three.”

ECN remains optimistic it can pivot its business strategy and hopeful it will see out the events scheduled for the remainder of 2025 as planned.

But unless a major sponsorship partner is brought on board quickly it faces the reality of scaling back its operations drastically.

Dream11 has been approached for comment.