The Afghanistan Cricket Board has taken its biggest step yet toward reviving the Afghanistan Premier League, unveiling the first three franchises for an inaugural season that is now scheduled to begin on December 27, 2026, in the United Arab Emirates. At a launch ceremony in Dubai, the board introduced Axcel United Kabul, Balkh Zwanan and Kandahar Warriors as the opening wave of city-based teams, alongside a new trophy for the competition named the Koh-e-Zafar, a nod to Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain. Two further franchises, representing Paktia and Nangarhar, are still to be confirmed, but the board says the five-team structure and the December start date are now locked in.
Three Franchises, Two Still to Come
Axcel United Kabul represents the capital and is being positioned as the league’s flagship city franchise, while Kandahar Warriors have built their identity around an aggressive brand of cricket backed by strong regional support in the south. Balkh Zwanan, representing the north of the country, has been pitched by its ownership group as a franchise built around developing younger players rather than simply importing marquee overseas names. The remaining two licenses, for Paktia and Nangarhar, have not yet been awarded, leaving the board with two more unveilings to manage before a ball is bowled.
A League That Failed Once Before
This is not Afghanistan’s first attempt at a city-based T20 competition. An earlier version of the Afghanistan Premier League launched in 2018 but lasted only a single season before it was discontinued amid disputes over unpaid franchise fees and questions over the tournament’s financial transparency. The board’s decision to stage this revival entirely in the UAE, rather than inside Afghanistan, and to build out the franchise structure gradually over several months rather than rushing straight into a tournament, is widely read as an attempt to avoid repeating those early mistakes and to reassure prospective team owners and players that the league is on firmer financial footing this time.
The Chairman’s Pitch
ACB chairman Mirwais Ashraf framed the unveiling as a milestone moment for the domestic game. “Today is a landmark occasion for Afghan cricket,” Ashraf said at the Dubai ceremony. “The unveiling of our inaugural franchises and the Koh-e-Zafar trophy reflects our shared vision of building a league that inspires future generations.” The comments were aimed squarely at a young Afghan playing population that has produced a wave of global T20 talent over the past decade without, until now, a stable home-grown league of its own to showcase them in front of a domestic audience.
Building the Player Pool
The league has already set its player pipeline in motion. Registration for the draft opened on August 30, 2026, and a formal player draft was held on September 27, 2026, bringing together Afghanistan’s contracted internationals, domestic players from tournaments such as the Ahmad Shah Abdali First-Class Tournament, and overseas professionals keen to add another T20 stop to their calendars. The board has described the goal as blending established national-team figures with emerging domestic talent and a measured number of international signings, rather than building rosters dominated by overseas stars, as happened in some earlier iterations of other regional leagues.
Opportunity Versus Old Scar Tissue
Reaction among Afghan cricket followers has split along familiar lines. Supporters see a well-sequenced rollout, registration, draft, franchise reveals and trophy unveiling, spread over several months, as evidence the board has learned from 2018 and is building a sustainable product that can eventually bring top-flight domestic cricket closer to home even while staged in the UAE for security and logistical reasons. Skeptics counter that the previous Afghanistan Premier League also launched with considerable fanfare before collapsing over payment disputes, and that promises of financial discipline mean little until franchises are shown to have paid players and met their obligations through a full season.
The Road to December 27
With three of five franchises confirmed and a draft already completed, the board’s immediate task is finalising ownership for the Paktia and Nangarhar licenses and locking in a venue schedule across the UAE’s established grounds. If the league reaches its December 27 start date intact, it would give Afghanistan its first fully-fledged domestic T20 competition in eight years, and a potential new revenue stream and shop window for a cricket board that has increasingly used the UAE as a second home for its bilateral cricket as well. How the next two franchise announcements land, and whether marquee overseas players commit to the inaugural season, will shape how much credibility the competition carries into its first ball.
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