APL Format Explained: 24 Matches, Playoffs & Points
Twenty league games, then a knockout. The 2018 version used semi-finals. The 2026 version is not a photocopy.
APL 2026 Squads Confirmed: All Five 19-Player Teams
Rashid has Amir and Nabi. Zadran has Moeen. Gurbaz has Hasaranga and Noor. A team-by-team read of the official lists.
The ACB published the five final squads on 3 November 2026, straight after the draft in Dubai. Each has 19 players: the Afghan Icon captain plus 18 picks. The counts of overseas players below are the players the ACB release lists with a country in brackets.
Key takeaways
- Each franchise has 19 players: one Afghan Icon and 18 drafted.
- Kabul and Paktia each have six players listed with an overseas country; Kandahar, Balkh and Nangarhar have five.
- Two Namibia internationals, Gerhard Erasmus and David Wiese, are both at Paktia.
Kandahar Warriors, captained by Rashid Khan with Ravi Bopara as head coach, have Muhammad Amir (Platinum), Mohammad Nabi and Joe Clarke (Diamond), Karim Janat, Kusal Perera and Tymal Mills in Gold, and Mohammad Shahzad, Dwaine Pretorius and George Munsey in Silver. Five players carry an overseas country in the release.
Team Balkh, led by Ibrahim Zadran and coached by Mickey Arthur, built around Moeen Ali, AM Ghazanfar and Luke Wood, then Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal and Muhammad Waseem in Gold, Abdullah Ahmadzai as the Wildcard, Thomas Moores and Colin Ackermann in Silver, and Qais Ahmad in the Supplementary round. Five overseas names.
Nangarhar Cosmic, captained by Rahmat Shah after the 3 November captaincy swap, have Alex Hales, Darwish Rasooli, Shakib Al Hasan, Kamindu Mendis, Junaid Siddique, Zahir Khan Pakten and Amir Jangoo, plus Faisal Khan Shinozada, the first Emerging pick. Five overseas names.
Akcel United Kabul, led by Azmatullah Omarzai, have the longest overseas list at six: Johnson Charles, Dushmantha Chameera, D'Arcy Short, Shamim Hossain, Imran Tahir and Curtis Campher, with Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Hazratullah Zazai among the Afghan picks.
Team Paktia, now captained by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, also have six: Wanindu Hasaranga, Nahid Rana, Colin Munro, David Wiese, Gerhard Erasmus and Olly Stone. With Noor Ahmad in Diamond and Hashmatullah Shahidi in Gold, it is the squad with two frontline wrist-spinners.
Full lists, with every category, are on the squads page and on each team page: Kandahar Warriors, Balkh, Nangarhar Cosmic, Akcel United Kabul and Paktia.
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