Indian national hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh is excited about the upcoming Hockey India League and sees it as a huge opportunity for the Indian players.
The league is returning after seven years and the previous run of the league from 2013 to 2017 saw the Indian youngsters rub shoulders with the best players in the world.
Among those youngsters was Harmanpreet Singh, who debuted with Dabang Mumbai in the 2015 season scoring five goals and winning the Most Promising Player of the Tournament award.
“Hockey India League was a huge part of my development. The league provided me with a stage to enhance my skills by exposing me to different playing styles under different coaches. Playing in a League, and sharing a dressing room with players from various countries opens up your mind and provides you with multiple perspectives and ways of thinking. All this was integral in the resurgence of Indian hockey and it certainly impacted our performance at the Tokyo Olympics where we won the Bronze medal,” Harmanpreet revealed.
One year after his debut, Harmanpreet won the Junior World Cup with the Indian team in 2016 and came back to the 2017 HIL to score six goals and win the Upcoming Player of the Tournament award.
In his journey at HIL, he played alongside the likes of Glenn Turner, Tom Boon, and Jeremy Hayward and worked under Olympic medal-winning coach Valentin Altenburg and triple Olympic medalist Australian player Jason Stacy.
Weighing on his experience at HIL, Harmanpreet said,” There could be nothing better for Indian hockey than the Hockey India League. It was a great learning experience the last time around and I am sure all hockey players are excited to take part in the League. It will be a great opportunity for the youngsters as well to rub shoulders with the best players from across the globe, observe the subtle differences in the way they think, and the way they play, and try to inculcate the good habits that they notice.”
The revamped HIL 2024-25 will feature 8 men’s teams and 6 women’s teams, marking the first standalone women’s league in the country that will run concurrently with the men’s competition.
The league will get underway on 28th December with matches played in two venues — Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Astroturf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand, and Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, Odisha.
The Women’s League will conclude on 26th January 2025 in Ranchi while the men’s Final is slated for 1st February 2025 in Rourkela.
The player auction for the HIL 2024-25 will be held from the 13th to the 15th of October in New Delhi.
Each franchise will build a 24-player squad, consisting of at least 16 Indian players (with a mandatory inclusion of 4 junior players) and 8 international stars. Players will be divided into three slabs with base prices of 2, 5, and 10 lakhs each at the auction.