Manchester United to have their cricket team in the UAE T20 League

English football club Manchester United are going to have a cricket team that will be participating at the UAE T20 league from 2023 onwards. Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed, the Dubai Sports Council chairman confirmed the development through his Twitter account.

“I met with Avram Glazer, Co-Chairman of Manchester United, today and discussed ways to work together to further raise Dubai’s profile as a global sporting hub. We also discussed the UAE T20 Cricket league’s launch in Jan 2023 featuring the Manchester United cricket team & other teams,”

Sheikh Mansoor tweeted late on Thursday.

Glazer, who are Man United’s co-chairman, bought one of the six teams taking part in the UAE T20 league, which is set to be launched in January, 2023. The United owners have been developing a keen interest in cricket recently and a franchise-based model, which would have the concept of no promotion or relegation, is said to be one of the reasons for their keen interest. However, their attempt to move towards a closed-shop European Super League in football fell through miserably.

They also tried their hands on buying an Indian Premier League franchise before, as the BCCI brought in two new teams from this season onwards. After that, they turned their attention towards the UAE T20 league.

“I’m very excited to be a part of UAE T20 (league) at its formation. UAE T20 promises to be a world-class event that will be transformative to the growth of cricket in the Emirates,”

Avram Glazers had said last year.

They also own the American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL.