Hockey India League 2024 to be held from Dec 28 to Feb 5; Player Auction on Oct 13, 14 and 15
For the first time, men’s and women’s teams will play together simultaneously in the Hockey India League 2024, which will go on for 35 days.
Published : Oct 04, 2024 12:31 IST , New Delhi - 2 MINS READ
Hockey India League, which returns after seven years, will be an eight-team competition for the men and six teams for the women. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The Hockey India League, returning after a seven-year hiatus, will see players from the top teams across the world back in action in India over 36 days starting December with the team franchises officially announced here on Thursday.
With eight men’s and six women’s teams, it will be the first professional league to have both men and women playing concurrently. While the men’s games will be played in Rourkela, the women will be in action in Ranchi.
“However, every men’s team will also play at least one game in Ranchi and the women will play a game each in Rourkela to make sure both centres also get to see the other gender in action,” a senior Hockey India official confirmed.
With players from the top 15 men’s and women’s teams in the world – barring China -- registering for participation, the players auction will be held over three days, October 13-15. A total of 675 men (500 Indian and 175 foreign) and 275 women (200 Indian, 75 foreign) have registered for the auction.
With a dedicated five-week window provided by the FIH (December 28-February 1) for the next 10 years, the HIL is expected to attract all the top names in the world. The women’s final will be held on January 26 in Ranchi while the men’s final will be on February 1 in Rourkela.
However, while some things have been finalised, a lot of details are yet to be worked out including two of the women’s teams that HI insisted would be done in the next few days. The teams will have 24-member squads with at least four juniors and eight foreigners on the roster with only four foreign players on the field at any time.
The base price for auction has been tentatively kept at Rs 2, 5 and 10 lakh with a Rs 4 crore purse for men’s teams and 3 crores for women with no individual cap. Sources said some of the franchises wanted to push for a higher cap but eventually settled for less. Every franchise will pay HI Rs 10 cr every year as team fees.
“A lot of small but critical details will be worked out before the auction. The HIL is very important for us and we want it to be a long-term project, which is why we took two long years to launch it. We have agreed on 10-year contracts with all the franchises, to be reviewed every three years, there is serious money being invested by both the owners and Hockey India. This is not an overnight decision taken as an afterthought,” HI president Dilip Tirkey said.