European Cricket Association launched in Paris to boost the game in the region

By K.R. Nayar

A cricket organisation to boost the game in Europe was launched in Paris today. Six cricketing nations joined hands and formed the European Cricket Association. The inaugural meeting of the association held at Pullman Effiel was attended by representatives of six cricket playing nations  - France, Italy, Jersey, Malta, Austria and Romania. France was the host of the meeting which was held under the chairmanship of Gurumurthy Palani, the Board Advisor to the France Cricket Association, till the president of the body is chosen.

European Cricket Association officials at their launch meeting 

Gabriel Marin of Romania was elected as the first President of the European Cricket Association, while Fabio Marabini of Italy will be the First Vice President. Three vice presidents were elected, which included Indika Perera (Malta), Sarah Gomersall (Jersey) and Gurumurthy Palani (France). Bilal Zal Mai of Austria will be the Executive Committee Member.


Speaking about the plans of the European Cricket Association, Gabriel Marin said: “This is a historic moment for European Cricket. The creation of the European Cricket Association today, after so many years of discussions, is a big step forward for the development of the game of cricket in Europe. We will aim to spread the game in Europe, generate the resources to attract more nations in the region into the game and conduct our own competition.  For this we will be aiming to spread the game at the grassroot level in all the countries. Right now we have six founding members and we expect more nations to join us.”

Gabriel Marin, who was elected president of the European Cricket Association

Fabio Marabini, the first Vice President, revealed that exciting times are ahead for cricket in Europe. “The European Cricket Association is a big opportunity to exploit the potential of cricket in Europe, from grassroots level to commercial opportunities. Exciting times are ahead and this association will not only help countries to play more cricket but also to find solutions for common problems and resources for their solutions.”


Fabio Marabini, the first vice president 

Elaborating further, Gabriel announced that plans are on to stage a European Cricket Championship for the European Cricket Cup.  “We, the founding members, the members of the first ECA Executive Committee, and myself as an elected President, we are very much aware about the high level of expectations we have created in the European cricket community and we’re all determined to work hard in order to deliver and even exceed the respective expectations.”


An operational meeting will be held during mid-January. There is already a huge response seen in many countries. “We are expecting 15 to 20 countries to join our association. We plan to create a fast track by providing support to all nations. We will be conducting more market research since the interest to play the game here is huge. In the light of inclusion of cricket for the 2028 Olympics, we expect our activities to gain huge momentum. We want to thank everybody for their trust and again, we want to assure that we’ll do our very best to achieve our final objective of consolidation and growth of European cricket,” added Fabio

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