The golden days of Indian hockey seem to be returning again. The men's hockey team gave the fans of this game a chance to be happy by winning bronze medals in two consecutive Olympic Games. The women's hockey team is also getting better day by day. In such a time, to capitalize on the growing love of the fans for hockey and to brighten the future of Indian hockey, the Hockey India League (HIL) has returned. After 7 years, once again this franchise based league of Hockey India is back. Has returned. It was announced several weeks ago but now its teams and dates have also been announced. The league will start from December 2024 and the most important thing is that a women's league will also be organized for the first time.

Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey officially launched the new Hockey India League in New Delhi on Friday 4 October. Earlier, this league was organized between 2013 and 2017, in which apart from India, many famous hockey players from all over the world were also included. However, at that time only men's league was organized and Team India saw its benefits in the coming years, the result of which is considered to be the medals of Tokyo and Paris Olympics. However, this time the women's tournament will also be held simultaneously.

How many teams will participate?

This time, 8 men's teams will participate in the Hockey India League, while it will start with 6 women's teams. In the last edition of the league, there were only 6 men's teams. According to the ESPN report, the eight men's teams and their owners are - Chennai (Charles Group), Lucknow (Yadu Sports), Delhi (SG Sports-Entertainment), Kolkata (Shrachi Group), Odisha (Vedanta), Hyderabad (Resolute Sports), Ranchi (Navoyam Sports) and Punjab, (JSW Sports)

Whereas women's teams will be Delhi, Kolkata, Odisha and Haryana (JSW Sports). According to the report, the names of two more teams have not been revealed yet.

When will the league start? Where will the matches be played?

It has been told in the report that the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has allotted the January-February window for this league for the next 5 years. This time the league will start on 28th December and the final will be played on 5th February. Whereas the final of the women's event will be held on 26 January 2025. However, unlike the Indian Premier League, there is no rule for every franchise to play matches on its home ground. This time all the matches of the league will be played in Rourkela and Ranchi.

How will the players be selected?

Seeing the success of the players auction in IPL, Hockey India has also adopted the same path. Registration of players for the league was completed by August. Many big players from all over the world have registered their names for this. All these players will go through the auction process on 13, 14 and 15 October. Every team has to prepare a squad of 24-24 players. For this, the base price of players has been kept at Rs 2 lakh, 5 lakh and 10 lakh. Players have the freedom to choose their base price. Like IPL, bidding for each player will start from the base price only.