Pro Kabaddi 2022 Auction: Date, Rules, Base Price, Salary Purse, Players Retention Details of PKL 9

The new season of vivo Pro Kabaddi is scheduled to start later this year, but before that the build for the upcoming campaign starts with PKL Season 9 Player Auction.

PKL started as an eight franchise tournament back in 2014 and since 2017 expanded with the addition of four new teams, making the league even bigger with more stars on display.

During Season 8 auction, Record-breaker Pardeep Narwal was picked up by UP Yoddha for a whopping Rs 1.65 crore, making him the most expensive player in PKL history. Before Pardeep, Siddharth Desai held the tag for most expensive buy when he was bought at Rs 1.45 crore.

PKL season 8, which finished only earlier this year in February, returned from nearly a two year hiatus as the Kabaddi league was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Dabang Delhi defeated multi-time winners Patna Pirates to clinch their first ever title last season.

Season 9 has already taken shape with a number of changes to the coaching staff as Bengal Warriors hire former PKL winning coach K Baskaran (head coach) and former national kabaddi player Prashant Surve (assistant coach).

Also making changes to their support staff were Gujarat Giants who brought in Ram Mehar Singh, while Haryana Steelers replaced Rakesh Kumar with recently sacked former Giants coach Manpreet Singh.

Now, as the stage is set for PKL to return just few months after last season, here is a look at the auction date, time, rules, base price, salary purse, players retention details:

When and where is PKL Season 9 Players Auction taking place?

The PKL Season 9 Player Auction will take place as two-day event on August 5th and August 6th in Mumbai.

How many players will go under the hammer during PKL Season 9 Auction?

Like season 8, in Season 9 also the player pool has been expanded to 500+ including all squad players from previous seasons as well as 24 players from top 2 teams of the Khelo India University Games 2021, Bangalore.

What is the Salary Purse for franchise heading into PKL Season 9 Auction?

The total Salary Purse applicable to each Franchisee for its squad for Season 9 is Rs 4.4 Crores.

What is the base price for players at the PKL Season 9 Auction?

The Season 9 Player Auctions will see Domestic, Overseas, and New Young Players (NYPs) divided into four categories: Category A, B, C and D. Within each category, the players will be further sub-divided as 'All-Rounders', 'Defenders' and 'Raiders'.

Base prices for each of the categories are:

Category A - Rs 30 Lakhs,

Category B - Rs 20 Lakhs

Category C - Rs 10 Lakhs

Category D - Rs 6 Lakhs

Is there a right to match or Final Bid Match (FBM) card?

Yes, each team can use upto three FBM cards to match the final selling bid for their players from season 8.

What are the retention rules and how many players can be retained going into PKL Season 9 Auction?

The PKL teams have a choice of retention of players from their respective PKL Season 8 squads as per the league policies.

The franchises are allowed to retain up to six players under the Elite Retained Players category and up to four New Young Players (NYPs) under stipulated conditions.

And the players, who are not retained by the franchisees will join the 500+ player player to go under the hammer during the two-day auction.

How to watch the PKL Season 9 Player Auction?

Watch the PKL Player Auction on Star Sports Network - Star Sports First, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Tamil and Star Sports 1 Kannada TV channels in India.

LIVE streaming of the Pro Kabaddi 2022 Auction will be available on Disney+ Hotstar, 6.30 PM IST onwards.

How to follow the PKL Season 9 Player Auction online?

The two-day auction process can be followed via the official vivo Pro Kabaddi website www.prokabaddi.com, their social channels and also on myKhel.com.

When is PKL Season 9 scheduled to start?

Organisers Mashal Sports will hold the Season 9 of the vivo Pro Kabaddi League from October 2022 to December 2022.

Which are the teams taking part in PKL Season 9?

Bengal Warriors, Bengaluru Bulls, Dabang Delhi, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Gujarat Fortunegiants, Tamil Thalaivas, Telugu Titans, U Mumba, Haryana Steelers, UP Yoddha, Patna Pirates and Puneri Paltan.