Hockey: Player registration for HIL begins

Hockey India (HI) on Friday announced that player registration for the Hockey India League (HIL), which is set to make a comeback after an eight-year hiatus, has commenced.

The federation has invited the top-15 hockey playing nations to register their players and support staff till the cutoff date of June 30 for the upcoming season that will be held from December 28 to February 1, a window sanctioned by the international hockey federation (FIH).

As reported by this daily in March, while the men’s league will feature eight teams, the inaugural women’s tournament will have six.

“We are elated to open the player registration for the Hockey India League 2024-2025 edition. This step signifies that we are close to restarting the HIL, a league that was loved by hockey players and fans across the world. We are confident that budding Indian hockey players will snatch at the opportunity to play with and against some of the best players in the world," said HI president Dilip Tirkey.

HIL was held from 2013 to 2017 before it folded. In the new avatar, each team will have separate owners and the 14 entities have almost been finalised. The players’ auction will take place post the Paris Olympics.

Soon after taking over as HI president in September 2022, former India skipper Tirkey had expressed the desire to revive the league that folded due to financial and scheduling issues.

In April 2023, HI named Big Bang Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd. as its commercial and marketing partner for the league. The HIL committee met for the first time in July 2023 to discuss the financial model proposed by the agency, which was approved by the HI executive Board reviewed.