London: England is to launch a tournament to rival the Indian Premier League (IPL) jointly with an American billionaire who said Twenty20 cricket could replace football as the world's top sport, it was announced Friday.

David Collier, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said the tournament, to be bankrolled by Antigua-based Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, will kick off in 2010 because of commitments in 2009.

"We've had some very positive and constructive discussions with Sir Allen during the last week. I think Sir Allen has certainly mentioned 2010 and I think that's the more likely (date)," Collier said Friday.

However, the representative for England's cricketers - shut out of the IPL by their bosses - warned that an English Premier League would need the agreement of India, "because that is where the money is".

Collier said discussions with Stanford, who runs a Twenty20 championship in the Caribbean, were "well advanced" and also included plans for a one-off 10 million pound winner-take-all tournament between England and the West Indies.

“The discussions we've had regarding one-off internationals are particularly important. They are hugely beneficial to the game because they don't add an awful lot to workload and yet they do give the players opportunities to earn large sums of money,� Collier said.