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The Bangladesh Cricket Board said that are comfortable to hold the next edition of the Bangladesh Premier League with as few as five franchises, as they officially opened the Invitation for Expressions of Interest on Saturday.

The BCB stated that the rights would be granted for the next five consecutive editions of the BPL—the sole franchise-based T20 tournament in Bangladesh. 

Barishal, Chattogram, Cumilla, Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Sylhet have been listed as potential franchise regions.

However, for the next [12th] edition, the BCB is open to holding the BPL with at least five. 

‘As part of a transparent and merit-based process, the BPL Governing Council will consider a minimum of five eligible EOI submissions for the 12th edition of the BPL T20 (2026),’ the BCB said in a press release. 

‘Final selection will be based on financial strength, reputation, and strategic alignment with the long-term vision of the league,’ it added. 

For the last three seasons, BPL had seven teams. Since its inception in 2012, the T20 tournament has never had less than six teams in a season. 

‘Given the short window we have this year, we are comfortable with five teams. That is not to say that it cannot be six or seven,’ Iftekhar Rahman, the member secretary of the BPL Governing Council, told reporters on Saturday. 

‘But the point is, we are comfortable with running it with five teams in this one-month window. So, our priority is the first five teams,’ he added. 

Iftekhar also said that the window for the next BPL would be from mid-December to mid-January. 

He also stated that they would be ‘very very strict’ with selecting the next franchises. 

He said, ‘However, you know that the problems we faced in the last BPL were mainly related to the franchises. So, the selection of the franchise will be very, very, very strict.’ 

‘If the finances aren’t right, if the management isn’t right... You might be a big group with good finances, but you need people for cricket management as well. We will primarily look at these things,’ he added. 

It was reported that the Fortune Barishal, the defending champion of the BPL, wouldn’t show interest for the upcoming seasons. 

‘Look, I can’t force anyone to come. We welcome them; they have run their team well, and we have never had any complaints,’ Iftekhar said when his attention was drawn. 

‘So, we always want well-managed teams like theirs to participate. We are open, but we can’t force anyone. From my perspective, considering the effort they put in and the following they built in Barishal... my request is that it would be good if they came,’ he added.