The upcoming ILT20 Season 5 player auction is officially confirmed to take place on October 1 at the ICC Academy indoor facility in Dubai. Following initial uncertainty regarding the schedule, organizers have finalized the date. Interest in the tournament remains high, with more than 800 cricketers from 20 nations having registered between July and September 12. Currently, officials are in the process of vetting these entries to narrow the final pool down to approximately 200 players.
Participating franchises will enter the auction with a purse of USD 1,300,000, which will be supplemented by any unspent funds remaining from the initial USD 700,000 allocated for direct signings and retentions. By the conclusion of the bidding process, each team is required to have invested a total between USD 1.5 million and USD 2 million, a range that excludes any potential post-auction Wildcard player additions.
Squad construction rules mandate that each franchise must sign between 18 and 23 players. This roster must include at least 11 cricketers from ICC Full Member countries, which specifically requires at least four players from Afghanistan and one from Ireland. Additionally, squads must feature a minimum of four UAE players, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia, and one further representative from an ICC Associate nation.
Players available for selection will be categorized by base prices of USD 10,000, USD 40,000, or USD 80,000. To maintain squad continuity, each franchise is granted four Rights to Match (RTM) options. These allow teams to retain players from the previous season, including specific slots for a Full Member player, an Associate Member player, a UAE-based player or Development Squad member, and a player from Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.
The league has also established clear protocols for mid-season changes. Should a player suffer an injury, receive an international call-up, or fail to secure a No Objection Certificate (NOC), franchises may sign a replacement at any point until the tournament’s league phase concludes. Once the support period officially begins, any such replacements are subject to approval by the ILT20 Technical Committee.
Regarding the source of these replacements, the league mandates that any vacancy involving a mandatory player—such as those from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, or Ireland—must be filled by a cricketer who originally registered for the auction. Replacements for players from other nations are not subject to this registration requirement. The report also notes that but the organisers have now confirmed it will be on October 1, there was initially some confusion over the date of the auction. The report also notes that here is a lowdown on the auction for the six franchises.
