The Emirates Cricket Board emerged as the biggest winner at the ICC Development Awards 2025, claiming three global honours for its work in growing the game, while cricket bodies from Türkiye, Italy, Japan, Brazil and Nigeria also received awards.The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the global winners during its Annual Conference after selecting them from the regional awardees announced in June. This year’s ICC Development Awards winners recognise excellence across seven categories spanning development and participation, female cricket initiatives, team performances, digital engagement and social impact. The Emirates Cricket Board picked up the ICC Development Initiative of the Year award for its Girls U15 Academy League. The ICC said the league was the first of its kind in the region and helped create opportunities for young girls to play competitive cricket.The Emirates Cricket Board also shared the ICC Female Cricket Initiative of the Year award with Türkiye Cricket for the second successive year.In the UAE, the award recognised the Interschool criiio Gulf Cup and the Emirates Cricket Board's Get into Cricket – Girls Only programme, which were launched after the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024. The initiatives expanded girls' cricket across schools and communities in different emirates.

Türkiye Cricket was honoured for organising the largest ICC Women's Cricket Week celebration in Europe in 2025. More than 3,000 girls from 20 provinces took part in softball festivals, ICC Women's Cricket World Cup watch parties and coaching webinars for female coaches.The Emirates Cricket Board completed its hat-trick of awards by winning the ICC Associate Member Women's Team Performance of the Year honour. The UAE women's team drew a 2-2 ODI series against Zimbabwe in their first 50-over series after gaining ODI status and then won the following T20I series 2-0, registering their first series victory over a higher-ranked Full Member nation away from home.ICC Chairman Jay Shah congratulated the winners."These Awards were established to celebrate the extraordinary work being delivered by our Associate Members around the world, and this year’s winners are outstanding examples of how cricket can inspire participation, create opportunity, strengthen communities and deliver performances that capture global attention."Congratulations to all the exceptional winners of the ICC Development Awards 2025. You serve as a great inspiration to the global cricket community, and these initiatives display the strength, reach and potential of the sport across every region. I am excited to see the legacy they leave and the further growth they help drive in the years to come."

ECB Board Member Zayed Abbas: “These awards are a massive encouragement for the Emirates Cricket Board management, officials, players and support staff. We want to thank the International Cricket Council for creating this opportunity and recognition for Associate Members who overcome big challenges to deliver such initiatives. The success of our initiatives has renewed our commitment, passion and vigour and we are more determined than ever to produce a series of similar initiatives in the years ahead.“The recognition that our women’s team has rightly earned has warmed our hearts and given us incredible motivation for the sustained growth and development of women’s cricket in the country. Our players have shown to the world their skills, abilities and determination to not only compete but to beat the ICC Full Members, which makes us immensely happy and proud.“Women’s cricket continues to get recognition across the UAE. The media interest in the team and the players is more than ever and slowly but steadily the players are becoming popular in the cricket communities in the country. The schools and academy programmes around the country have already had a big impact and thousands of girls are now playing cricket, which means that we have a solid foundation to work on for the years ahead. A lot of these girls will eventually represent UAE junior and senior teams, and we are committed to providing them every opportunity and support that they require from us.“We have already set our sights at maximising this success by investing more in development programmes while our aim remains to provide our national team continued exposure against top international teams. Our participation in the ACC Women’s Asia Cup 2026 will be massive opportunity for the players, and we have also set our eyes on the ICC Women’s T20 and ODI World Cup qualification. We have immense trust in our players as they have time and again proven their worth, through their hard work and sustained efforts, they can produce some incredible results in the years ahead and they will find us backing them to the absolute hilt.”Complete winners of the ICC Development Awards 2025ICC Development Initiative of The YearWinner: Emirates Cricket BoardICC Female Cricket Initiative of the Year 2025Winners: Emirates Cricket Board, Türkiye CricketICC Associate Member Women’s Team Performance of the Year 2025Winner: Emirates Cricket BoardICC Associate Member Men’s Team Performance of the Year 2025Winner: Federazione Cricket ItalianaICC Digital Fan Engagement of the Year 2025Winner: Japan Cricket AssociationICC Cricket 4 Good Social Impact Initiative of the Year 2025Winner: Confederação Brasileira de CricketICC x Rexona criiio Cricket Festival of the YearWinner: Nigeria Cricket Federation