The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has officially unveiled Player Acquisition and Draft Rules for the 2026 season, marking the start of a new three-year contract cycle running from 2026 to 2028.
The revised framework includes several important updates designed to enhance competitive balance, promote emerging talent, and incorporate a seventh franchise into the league. The draft picks will be revealed on the league’s official social media platforms on Friday, 15 May.
According to the new regulations, each franchise will field a 17-player squad comprising nine senior West Indies players, five overseas players, and three Breakout Players.
As the league’s newest team, the Jamaica Kingsmen are entitled to special draft rights. They have the option to select the first three players, specifically Jamaican players, but they are not required to use all three picks.
Fawad Sarwar is the owner of the Jamaica Kingsmen and Pakistan Super League (PSL) outfit Hyderabad Kingsmen.
These choices cannot be contested using the Right to Match Option (RMO). In this phase, the Kingsmen can pick up to one player from any current team, and any franchise that loses a player to the Kingsmen will gain an extra RMO.
After this initial phase, the draft will follow a structured sequence according to the 2025 league standings to promote competitive balance among all teams.
Franchises will be able to use RMOs to keep players from their 2025 squads if those players are chosen by another team during the draft.
Each current team starts with four RMOs: three can be used on players from any salary slot on their 2025 roster, and one is reserved for players who occupied salary slots seven to 17 and are nationals of the franchise’s home territory.
Teams that lose a player to the Jamaica Kingsmen at the beginning of the draft will get an extra RMO, usable in any round.
The Kingsmen will have one RMO available for any Jamaican player, as long as, if the player participates in the 2025 CPL, they must have held a salary slot between seven and 17.
In terms of player retention, each existing franchise was allowed to keep one Breakout Player from its 2025 squad before the draft, which remains the only pre-draft retention method for the 2026 season.
Breakout Players continue to be vital to the league’s growth strategy, with every team required to include at least one player selected in rounds 15 to 17 in each matchday XI during the tournament.
Teams can also sign up to five overseas players through direct negotiations, with these players not part of the draft. However, no more than four overseas players can be named in any matchday XI.
CPL Tournament Operations Director Michael Hall stated that the framework was developed in close collaboration with all seven franchises, Cricket West Indies, and other stakeholders to ensure a balanced and competitive structure.
“We have worked closely with the seven CPL franchises, Cricket West Indies, and other key stakeholders to develop a framework that allows us to successfully introduce a seventh team while maintaining competitiveness and fairness across the league,,” Hall said.
“We are excited to see how the squads take shape and are confident that the expanded tournament will raise the standard of the CPL even further,” he concluded.
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