The Hundred opens retention window for the 2027 season

The Hundred 2027 retention window opened on October 19, 2026 and will remain active until January 15, 2027. Franchises competing in both the men's and women's competitions can use this period to confirm which players they wish to carry forward into the 2027 season.

Each men's and women's squad is permitted to retain a maximum of 16 players for the 2027 edition. Retained players will continue on the same salaries they received during the 2026 competition, with no automatic pay increase applied at the point of retention.

The window covers several distinct player categories, giving franchises meaningful flexibility as they plan their squads ahead of the 2027 auction cycle.

Who is eligible to be retained for The Hundred 2027?

Any player signed at The Hundred Auction 2026 is eligible for retention. Crucially, a player does not need to have appeared on the field during 2026 to qualify. Those who were contracted but missed the season through injury or other circumstances remain available for their franchise to retain.

Replacement players who featured in at least two matches during the 2026 competition are also eligible for retention. This provision ensures that players who stepped in and made a meaningful contribution are not automatically shut out of a franchise's plans for the following year.

Players selected through the Vitality Wildcard Draft in 2026 can be retained as well. Franchises have the option of keeping them at their existing base price or offering an enhanced salary for 2027. However, any wildcard player retained through this window will not carry wildcard status into the 2027 season, meaning they will be treated as a standard contracted player going forward.

What happens after the retention window closes?

Once the retention window shuts on January 15, 2027, franchises move into the Direct Signing Window, which runs from January 20 to February 3, 2027. Each team may make up to four direct signings during this phase, with the composition capped at two domestic players and two overseas players per franchise.

The Hundred Auction for 2027 is scheduled to follow in early March 2027, though the exact date is yet to be confirmed by the ECB. This auction will allow franchises to fill remaining squad slots with players who were not retained or directly signed in the preceding windows.

After the auction concludes, the Wildcard Draft for The Hundred 2027 is set for Summer 2027, completing the full squad-building cycle ahead of the new season. The wildcard mechanism has historically provided franchises with a route to add emerging or uncapped talent at a fixed base price, rounding out their rosters before the competition begins.