The auction will bring together all six franchises as they look to complete their squads for the upcoming season, following their Pre-Auction Signings that were announced in August. The Auction rules, purse, and mechanics are explained below. The DP World ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction will be held in Dubai on Thursday, October 1 2026, at the ICC Academy indoors facility.
Replacement players do not need to have been featured in the player auction. Once all six Franchises have fulfilled their minimum requirements and are either unable or do not wish to sign any more players, the auction will be declared finished by the auctioneer. Once the tournament support period has commenced, approvals for replacement players must be granted by the ILT20 Technical Committee.
- If a player is injured, receives an international call up or does not receive an NOC, they may be replaced at any time until the end of the league phase of DP World ILT20 Season 5. No additional players will be added after the auction and the Wildcard player, only replacements may be added to the squad. * Following the conclusion of all sets (Full member, Associate Member, UAE Players, Kuwait players and Saudi Arabia players), if franchises still have room in their squad, they may request up to eight players from the Accelerated Set to be put forward into the auction. * Once all Franchises have spent their minimum total spend ($1.5m per team) and have fulfilled their minimum quotas of each type of player, they will be asked if they wish to end the auction. Player Right to Match * Franchises will each have four Rights to Match to use during the auction: * One for a UAE player that played for that Franchise in Season 4, or was part of their Development Squad in the 2026 ILT20 Development Tournament * All of these Rights to Match are optional and not obligatory. * If a player is injured, receives an international call-up or does not receive an NOC, they may be replaced at any time until the end of the league phase of DP World ILT20 Season 5.
