Rotterdam Dockers

When Faf du Plessis, Jonty Rhodes and Heinrich Klaasen put together a consortium to bid for one of six founding places in the new European T20 Premier League, they built the operation around Rotterdam and registered the franchise on 30 April 2026. Bollywood actor John Abraham joined the ownership group two months later, in June, joining three former South African internationals as co-owner.

Du Plessis took the captaincy himself, and it was his bat that gave the Dockers their first mark on the competition: an unbeaten 83 carried the side to a five-wicket win over the Amsterdam Flames in the league opener on 26 August 2026, the first result recorded in ETPL history. Rotterdam later beat Glasgow Cosmic by five wickets, and a fixture against the Belfast Wolves was lost to rain. Five points from those three matches put the club third in the inaugural table.

That opening win set the tone for the Dockers' relationship with the Flames. Home matches in the Netherlands are played at Sportpark Westvliet in Voorburg, the Voorburg Cricket Club's own ground.

The Dockers closed their first season third in the league.