ACB and ITW MEA Sign 10-Edition APL Partnership

The revived Afghanistan Premier League has a commercial backbone that the 2018 edition lacked. On 1 July 2025, in the UAE, the Afghanistan Cricket Board announced a long-term commercial partnership with ITW MEA 'for the successful organization and management' of the APL T20 over the next 10 editions.

The ACB described ITW MEA as a UAE- and Africa-based company working in media planning, consulting, branding and activations, media production and digital marketing, with past work for the ICC, the Asian Cricket Council and several full-member boards. The agreement was signed by ACB chairman Mirwais Ashraf, ACB chief executive Naseeb Khan and Vivek Chandra, director and head of business for ITW MEA.

The deal created a joint governing council of ACB and ITW representatives to oversee key operational decisions, including the selection of hosting venues. The board said the partner was chosen through a request-for-proposal process that took more than a year.

'The relaunch of the Afghanistan Premier League is a momentous achievement for Afghan cricket and its passionate fans who have long awaited this occasion,' Ashraf said at the signing. Naseeb Khan said the focus was 'not just on hosting a tournament but on elevating the league's quality, competitiveness, and prestige.'

Cricbuzz later reported that the ACB had granted league rights to Cricket Ventures LLC-FZ, a UAE-based company in a joint venture with the MENA subsidiary of ITW Universe, to operate and promote the APL. The same report put the base price for a franchise at USD 1,250,000. For how that turned into five teams and a draft, read the history of the APL and the draft results.