European Cricket Council

The European Cricket Council (ECC) is an international body which oversees cricket in European countries other than the Test-playing cricketing nation of England and Wales.

The ECC is the regional authority for Europe under the auspices of the worldwide governing authority of cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC). It is based in London, England, and hosts their executive meetings at Lord's. Its current chairman is Roger Knight.

The ECC is responsible for the promotion and development of the game of cricket across the European continent and Israel (for cricketing purposes, as with nearly all sports, Israel is considered to be a European country). Europe is a region where the game has not traditionally flourished. Cricket also faces tough competition from much more popular sports, such as football and basketball. It lists its key objectives as: Participation, High Performance, Tournament Structure, Widening the Market, and promoting the Spirit of Cricket.

The ECC is responsible for organising the European Cricket Championship along with junior, indoor and women's tournaments. The tournament structure is part of the qualification for the Cricket ICC World Cup.

The ECC runs development programmes that support coaching, umpiring, training, clinics and sports medicine programmes in member countries. These programmes are the responsibility of the European Development Manager and a small team of staff, within the framework of the ICC Development Programmes's Key Objectives. Responsibility for hosting and supporting the ICC's five regional programmes falls to the Full Member in each region, in this case the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who have, in turn, involved Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on the basis of MCC's existing strong links with Europe.

The programme is financed largely by the ICC (through the biennial ICC Champions Trophy, played between Full Members and Associate qualifiers) with assistance from the ECB and MCC, and a growing level of commercial sponsorship.