The
International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned the tournament in February 2018, and it is the first fully sanctioned T20 league in North America outside of the Caribbean. Canada's Prime Minister,
Justin Trudeau, was pleased with the ICC's decision to approve the league. In May 2018,
Cricket Canada announced that the
inaugural edition of the tournament would be held from 28 June to 15 July at the
Maple Leaf Cricket Club in
King City, Ontario The Vancouver Knights won the tournament, beating
West Indies B by seven wickets in the final. The inaugural 2018 season was benefitted by the international suspensions of Australian players David Warner and Steve Smith, who were ineligible to represent Australia, and decided to ply their trade in the domestic Canadian competition. The
2019 league was held at the Brampton Sports Park grounds by
TD Cricket Arena in
Brampton, Ontario from 25 July to 11 August. The second-round game between Montreal Tigers and Toronto Nationals on 7 August was delayed for two hours in a protest over unpaid wages; some pay issues dated back to the 2018 tournament. The protest occurred even though Toronto Nationals captain
Yuvraj Singh's fundraiser for his
YouWeCan Foundation, had been hosted two days earlier by League organizers. Originally planned to be played in
Brampton, it was later announced that it would be held from 24 June to 11 July 2021 in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia due to ongoing pandemic restrictions in Canada. Edmonton Royals were renamed as Surrey Jaguars. The 2021 tournament was ultimately cancelled "due to evolving concerns regarding COVID-19 and strict preventive measures taken by the
Government of Malaysia to contain the spread of the pandemic." The
2023 Global T20 Canada took place from 20 July to 6 August at the TD Cricket Arena by CAA Centre once again. The
2024 Global T20 Canada took place from 25 July to 11 August at the TD Cricket Arena by CAA Centre as well. On December 2024, Cricket Canada terminated its agreement with Bombay Sports for
breach of contract. Cricket Canada president Amjad Bajwa claimed that "the organizers have often been late with their payments and we couldn’t carry on in this fashion. They always wanted us to obtain permission to set up the league for the following year before we received any back payment and I viewed this as a form of blackmail." On March 18, 2025, in spite of the terminated agreement announcement by Cricket Canada, GT20 League director Karan Singh stated, "we will see you in Toronto in the summer. There are multiple things going on right now and we basically do not accept the cancellation. This has left a bad taste in the mouth as there hasn’t even been a courtesy call from their end. I cannot say anything more as our legal counsels in Canada and India are handling the matter." On April 14, 2025, Cricket Canada announced that they had awarded a long-term licensing deal to National Cricket League (NCL) Canada to operate the GT20 Canada tournament going forward. With the change in partner, Mayor
Patrick Brown told CBC Toronto's
Here and Now in July 2025 that Global T20 Canada would not take place that year, but that he hoped for the tournament to return in 2026. In January 2026 it was announced that the tournament would return, being hosted in Toronto from July to August 2026. Six teams were announced for the 2026 season, with new names. ==Teams==