SA20 auction 2026: Who has the biggest purse and what each team needs - everything you need to know

The SA20 Season 5 Player Auction will take place on Wednesday, with four franchises set to fill 19 remaining slots and a combined $2.10 million available to spend.

Durban’s Super Giants and Paarl Royals have already completed their squad-building after the league increased the salary cap to $2.54 million for the upcoming season.

Among the four teams heading into the auction, Joburg Super Kings have the biggest purse with $1.245 million available. MI Cape Town have $565,150, Sunrisers Eastern Cape have $217,600, while Pretoria Capitals have just $89,150 remaining.

Joburg Super Kings and MI Cape Town must each sign one Under-23 player from the final shortlist of 48 players. Joburg also have a wildcard slot still available.

There will be no Right to Match cards at the Season 5 auction.

How the squads will be completed

Each team must have 19 players in its registered squad, comprising 18 regular squad members and one wildcard player.

The 18-player squad can have a maximum of seven overseas players and must include at least 11 South African players, with two of those required to be Under-23 players.

The wildcard can be either a South African or overseas player and will not count towards the salary cap.

The auction will feature marquee mixed-set rounds followed by a nomination express round, in which teams can call up the player they want to bid for.

The auction takes place on October 7, with SA20 Season 5 following a previous edition in which Dewald Brevis became the league’s most expensive player after Pretoria Capitals bought him for R16.5 million.

Matthew Breetzke is another player whose auction value has risen significantly. Durban’s Super Giants initially signed him for his base price of $10,576 at the inaugural auction before Sunrisers Eastern Cape bought him for $368,000 three seasons later.

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SA20 auction 2026: Time and where to watch

The Season 5 Player Auction begins at 8:30pm IST on Wednesday, October 7.

In India, the auction will be broadcast on JioHotstar. It will also be streamed live on the official SA20 YouTube channel.