England Players to Get NOCs for Afghanistan Premier League T20

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will allow English cricketers to play in the new Afghanistan Premier League T20 (APL), even though England still refuse to play a bilateral series against Afghanistan. According to ESPNcricinfo, the ECB will treat the APL like any other foreign T20 league, as long as the tournament gets official approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

This means the English players who have signed up for the league can take part when it begins on December 27, 2026. The first season will be played in the United Arab Emirates.

Why the ECB decision raised questions

England have never played a bilateral series against Afghanistan. The main reason is the way the Taliban government treats women and girls. Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women have effectively been stopped from playing sport, and the United Nations has called the situation "gender apartheid". Afghanistan also has no women's cricket team.

Because of this, the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA), the players' union in England, was not sure whether players would get No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for the APL. An NOC is a permission letter. An English player needs one from the ECB before he can play in any league abroad.

The ECB has now made its view clear. It says that choosing not to arrange bilateral series against Afghanistan is one policy, and allowing its players to join foreign franchise leagues is a separate matter. So the APL will be judged by the same rules as every other league, provided the ICC sanctions it.

The ECB says it is still working to support Afghan women. It is part of an ICC taskforce that helps displaced Afghan women cricketers, and an Afghan refugee women's team toured England this year. The ICC has asked the taskforce to plan a path for that team to enter ICC qualifying events by 2030. Afghan men also play regularly in England. Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad played in the Hundred this summer, and Fazalhaq Farooqi played in the T20 Blast for Glamorgan.

The Lahore match that started the debate

This issue made big news in Pakistan early last year. England and Afghanistan were in the same group at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan hosted. Their match was fixed for Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on February 26, 2025.

Before the game, more than 160 British politicians asked England to boycott it. The ECB said no after talking to the UK government, the ICC and its own players. ECB chair Richard Thompson strongly criticised the treatment of Afghan women and girls, but said a joint response by the whole cricket world would achieve more than England acting alone.

The match went ahead and turned into a thriller. Afghan opener Ibrahim Zadran scored 177, the highest score in Champions Trophy history, as Afghanistan made 325 for 7. Joe Root hit 120 in reply, but Azmatullah Omarzai took 5 wickets for 58 runs. England were all out for 317, lost by eight runs and went out of the tournament.

Which English players have signed up

The APL has announced that several English players have registered for its first draft. Two of them, batter Ollie Pope and fast bowler Luke Wood, hold ECB central contracts for the 2025 to 2026 period. The others are James Vince, Moeen Ali, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Laurie Evans.

Many of these names are familiar to Pakistani fans. Jason Roy, James Vince and Moeen Ali have all played in the Pakistan Super League over the years. Registering does not guarantee a place, though. A team must still pick each player in the draft, which was planned for September 27 but has now been moved to October 24.

Timing also helps the players. In late 2024, the ECB brought in stricter NOC rules that stop many players from joining leagues that clash with the English summer, with the IPL as the main exception. Players reacted angrily and some spoke of legal action. The APL starts in late December, during the English winter, so it does not clash with county cricket.

What we know about the new league

The APL is run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) together with promoters Trans Group and ITW Universe. The ACB launched it in Dubai in December 2025. It was first expected around October 2026, but the start was later fixed for December 27.

Five teams are planned, representing Kabul, Kandahar, Balkh, Paktia and Nangarhar. Three have been named so far: Axcel United Kabul, Balkh Zwanan and Kandahar Warriors. They were unveiled in Dubai on August 26, along with the trophy, called the Koh e Zafar. The full schedule and venues are still to be announced.

The first season will be held in the UAE, which has been a second home for Afghan cricket for many years. The league's promotional material suggests the organisers hope to bring matches to Kabul International Cricket Stadium in future seasons.

This is not Afghanistan's first try. A league with the same name was held in Sharjah in October 2018 with stars like Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Shahid Afridi. It lasted just one season and was dropped after problems with player payments and concerns about how it was run.

What it means for Pakistan

For Pakistani cricketers, the bigger question is whether the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will give them NOCs. In 2018, the PCB allowed only retired players to join the APL. Active players such as Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Irfan, Iftikhar Ahmed and Sohail Tanvir were refused, while Shahid Afridi, who had retired from international cricket, took part.

Cricket ties between the two neighbours have also been tense. In October 2025, the ACB pulled out of a T20 tri-series in Pakistan, saying three local Afghan cricketers had been killed in Pakistani airstrikes in Paktika province. Pakistan says its strikes were aimed at militant hideouts inside Afghanistan. Zimbabwe replaced Afghanistan in that series, which was played in Rawalpindi and Lahore.

So far, the PCB has made no public statement about NOCs for this season's APL. The next steps are clear, however. The ICC must approve the league, the draft takes place on October 24 and the first match is due on December 27. Only after the draft will fans know how many English players, and possibly Pakistani ones, will actually play.