The much-anticipated revival of the Hockey India League is set to take off with the Men’s Auction on Sunday. 400 domestic and over 150 overseas Men’s players have registered to stand a chance to feature in one of the eight Men’s Teams when the Hockey India League kicks off in Rourkela later this year. Each of the eight franchise teams will consist of 24 players, including 16 Indian players (with a mandatory inclusion of 4 junior players) and 8 overseas players, reflecting HIL’s vision of promoting both local and global talent.

Further each team will have a maximum purse of Rs.4 crores to pick players that have been categorized under three base price slabs: Rs. 2 lakhs, Rs. 5 lakhs and Rs. 10 lakhs over the next two days.

The Auction will feature Olympic stars like Harmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh Mandeep Singh, Sanjay, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh, Abhishek, Krishan B Pathak, Sumit, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Nilakanta Sharma and many more Indian regulars. Adding to the excitement, former Indian hockey legends such as Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra, and Dharamvir Singh have also registered.

A few of the International hockey icons too have expressed their eagerness to play in the revamped Hockey India League. They include Arthur van Doren (Belgium), Alexander Hendrickx (Belgium), Gonzalo Peillat (Germany), Jip Janssen (Netherlands), Thierry Brinkman (Netherlands), Dayaan Cassiem (South Africa), Tom Wickham (Australia), Jean Paul Danneberg (Germany), Pirmin Blaak (Netherlands), Jorrit Croon (Netherlands), and Mats Grambusch  (Germany).

The Delhi based team, owned by SG Sports Pvt Ltd has been named SG Pipers. Tennis Doubles specialist and CEO of SG Sports Pvt Ltd, Mahesh Bhupathi, will be leading the team at the Auction along with Director of Hockey  PR Sreejesh, Head Coach Graham Reid and Assistant Coach Shivendra Singh.

Tamil Nadu based Team, owned by M & C Property Development Pvt Ltd, have been christened as Tamil Nadu Dragons. CMD Jose Charles Martin will be representing the team along with Joseph Selvan, Rein Van Eijk, and  Charles Dixon.

Shrachi Sports Endeavour Private Limited has named the team based in Kolkata as Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers.  Neeraj Thakur and  Saurav Sikdar from Shrachi Sports Endeavour Private Limited will be accompanied by  Jagraj Singh,  Romesh Pathania,  Abhishek Sharma,  Deepak Thakur and  Adrian Dsouza.

Hyderabad based team, owned by Resolute Sports Pvt. Ltd., will be called Hyderabad Toofans.  Alok Sanghi, MD will be accompanied by Sidhant Gautam, General Manager and Team Director Siddharth Pandey, Head Coach Pasha Gademan, Assistant Coaches Emily Calderon and Sanjay Bir, and Scientific Advisor Robin Arkell.

The team based in Lucknow, owned by Yadu Sports Pvt Ltd, has been named UP Rudras.  Paul Van Ass, Thomas Tichelman and Cedric D'souza will be a part of the coaching set up for the UP Rudras.

JSW Punjab and Haryana is owned by JSW Sports. Their team will comprise JSW Sports COO  Divyanshu Singh,  Arjun Halappa,  Jeroen Baart,  Sardar Singh,  Michael Cosma and  Srinivas Murthy.

The Odisha team is owned by Vedanta Ltd's CEO Sunil Gupta and Mansi Chauhan (Head PR & Communication) will be joined by Kariappa B. J, David John, and Dr. A.B Subbaiah in the team.

Team Gonasika, which is based in Visakhapatnam, will be headed by Tarini Prasad Mohanty.

“The Hockey India League is taking its first steps as a revamped league and we are excited to see it take off after years of planning and hard work. We have an unprecedented number of players taking part in the Auction, which shows that fans and players alike have been longing for the league to return. The Hockey India League is going to be a huge success and we cannot wait to see the players don their jerseys and take the field,” Hockey India President Dr. Dilip Tirkey commented.

Hockey India Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh also weighed in saying, “All preparations are in place for an edge of the seat Auction tomorrow. A huge number of players are set to go under the hammer in the next few days and I wish all the best to the players who have registered themselves for the auction. We hope to see some formidable teams formed in the next three days"

Photo Group: HI President Dr. Dilip Tirkey along with HI Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh and team owners and representatives of the eight participating franchises pose for a group photo ahead of Men’s auction for the  upcoming HIL 2024