Irfan Pathan becomes co-owner and brand ambassador of Ghent Gladiators in EUT20 Belgium

Published - 23 Apr 2026, 18:09 IST | Updated - 23 Apr 2026, 18:25 IST

Irfan Pathan has been announced as the co-owner and brand ambassador of the Ghent Gladiators, which is one of the five franchises that will participate in the inaugural edition of the EUT20 Belgium. For the unversed, the EUT20 Belgium is a professional T20 cricket league in Belgium, organised by Destino Legends Sports LLC in partnership with the Belgian Cricket Federation.

The idea of organising this special tournament came in 2025, intending to promote cricket in mainland Europe and give talented players in Belgium the opportunity to rub shoulders with global stars of the sport so that they could learn and enhance their skills.

Before Pathan, his former India teammate Zaheer Khan's name was announced as the co-owner of the Antwerp Anchors franchise. Having these two legends of Indian cricket on board will give the players a unique blend of tactical brilliance, operational insight, and high-performance culture.

Talking about Pathan, the legendary seam-bowling all-rounder played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs, and 24 T20Is. He scored 1105, 1544, and 172 runs across the three formats, respectively. With the ball, he has 100, 173, and 28 wickets in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is, respectively. The 41-year-old was the Player of the Match when India won the inaugural T20 World Cup final in 2007. He was also a part of the Indian team which won the Champions Trophy in 2013.

The league features five franchise teams representing major Belgian cities. The first season is scheduled to be held in Brussels and will run from June 6 to 14 this year. Apart from Ghent Gladiators and Antwerp Anchors, the other three teams participating in the maiden season are Akcel United Brussels, JB Bruges, and Liège Red Lions.

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Last month, the Gladiators roped in Jonathan Trott as their head coach for the upcoming season. They also announced South African ODI and Test skipper Temba Bavuma as their first pre-signing. A centralised player draft is expected to take place in the lead-up to the tournament to finalise the squads.