Hockey India League (HIL), known as the Coal India Hockey India League is a professional field hockey league in India. The league is organized by Hockey India, the governing body for the sport in India. HIL, along with the Indian Premier League, Indian Super League, and Pro Kabaddi League, is considered one of the major sports leagues in the country. HIL consists of six teams, with the regular season lasting two months from January to February, with each team playing 10 games. The top four teams at the end of the season move into the play-offs, where the championship game decides the Hockey India League winner. Hockey India League was founded in 2013 as part of Hockey India's attempt to get an

International Hockey Federation The Fédération Internationale de Hockey (English: International Hockey Federation), commonly known by the acronym and initialism, acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are i ...

sanctioned league after the un-sanctioned and non-Hockey India tournament, World Series Hockey, began in 2012. The first season took place in 2013 with five teams. Since beginning, the league has proven to be a financial success for Hockey India, who were in financial disarray before the league began. In 2015, it was reported that the federation earned a profit from the league and television revenues. The most recent champion of the Hockey India League is

Kalinga Lancers Kalinga Lancers (abbreviated as KAL) is a field hockey team based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha that plays in the Hockey India League. It is jointly owned by Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) and Mahanadi Coalfield Limit ...

, who won the tournament in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Ranchi Rhinos Ranchi Rhinos (abbreviated as RR) was a field hockey team based in Ranchi, Jharkhand that played in the Hockey India League. The team won the inaugural season of Hockey India League defeating Delhi Waveriders by 2-1. It is owned by Patel-Uniexce ...

Delhi Waveriders Delhi Waveriders (DLW) is a field hockey franchise based in Delhi that plays in the Hockey India League. It is owned by The Wave Group. The captain of the team for HIL 2016 is Simon Child with Rupinder Pal Singh being the Vice-Captain of the tea ...

Ranchi Rays Ranchi Rays (RCR) is an Indian field hockey team based in Ranchi, Jharkhand that competes in the Hockey India League (HIL). It was announced as the newest team to replace the defunct Ranchi Rhinos on 25 October 2014. It is owned by Indian cric ...

and

Punjab Warriors Jaypee Punjab Warriors (abbreviated as JPW) is a field hockey team based in Chandigarh, Punjab that plays in the Hockey India League. It is owned by Jaypee Group. Former Australian coach Barry Dancer serves as the head coach for the team while f ...

have also won the league.

History

In 2012, the

Indian Hockey Federation The Indian Hockey Federation was the Indian branch of the International Hockey Federation. Background It was the apex governing body of field hockey in India. It was formed on 7 November 1925 in Gwalior. It was the first non-European team to ...

and Nimbus began World Series Hockey, a professional field hockey league in India. After the success of the league, Hockey India announced the formation of their own franchise-based league, launched in mid-2012, known as the Hockey India League. Inspired by the cricket league, Indian Premier League, the league was approved by the

. The league was originally planned to have six teams, which would be established after the bidding was done for the twelve proposed cities that would host an HIL team. However, due to lack of interest in a sixth city, the league commenced in 2013 with five teams:

, Mumbai Magicians,

, and

Uttar Pradesh Wizards The Uttar Pradesh Wizards (abbreviated as UPW) are a field hockey team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh that plays in the Hockey India League. It is owned by Sahara India Pariwar. Former Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans serves as coach for the team an ...

. Before the beginning of the season, ESPN STAR Sports was announced as the league's official broadcasting partner on a five-year deal. The first match was played on 14 January 2013, as Delhi Waveriders defeated the Punjab Warriors 2–1 at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium. The league had gained some buzz from the marquee signings of India internationals Sardara Singh and Sandeep Singh, as well as the signings of foreign players such as Jamie Dwyer,

Moritz Fürste Moritz Fürste (born 28 October 1984) is a German field hockey player. He was a member of the Men's National Team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics as well as at the 2006 World Cup. He played at the ...

, and Teun de Nooijer. The inaugural season ended with Ranchi Rhinos being the first champions, defeating the Delhi Waveriders 2–1 in the final. The league was considered a success immediately in the years following the inaugural season. Before the beginning of the second season, the

were announced as the sixth team in the Hockey India League. However, after the 2014 season, the league suffered its first setback when the Mumbai Magicians disbanded. The team was swiftly replaced though with Dabang Mumbai being launched before the 2015 season. The league though suffered another setback before the 2015 season when Ranchi Rhinos, the inaugural champions, were disbanded after an ownership problem. The team though, like with Mumbai, was quickly replaced with

. Hockey India postponed the event in 2018 for unclear reasons. Later they announced that the next season of Hockey India league will be scheduled in November - December 2019.

Rules

If there is a tie in any match then there would be extra time. Still, if winner is not decided, there would be a shoot-out. If still the winner is not decided there would be no option left other than penalty strokes.

Teams

League championships

Tournament records

Sponsorship

Prize money

It was announced that the winning and losing team in the final is awarded 3 crores INR and 1.5 crores INR respectively.

Board

Before the league's first season, Hockey India appointed Steve Catton as competitions director. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla, leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, and media personality

Rajat Sharma Rajat Sharma (born 18 February 1957) is an Indian journalist and businessperson who is the chairman and Editor-in-chief of India TV, an Indian news outlet. Sharma is known for his show ''Aap Ki Adalat'' in which he is seen interviewing politic ...

are the members of the board for the Hockey India League. Along with Steve Catton, Barry Anderson was appointed as the tournament director. Hockey India appointed Todd Faulds as its competitions director for the second edition of the Hockey India League. Todd worked as a competitions manager for the FIH 2012 Men's Champions Trophy in Melbourne and 2012 International Super Series in Perth. Bjorn Isberg has been the Hockey India League tournament director since 2014. Isberg had served as tournament director for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

field hockey tournament, and three Champions Trophy tournaments (in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1 Professional sports leagues in India Sports leagues established in 2013 2013 establishments in India Sport in India