Next HIL To Be Held In 3 Venues, Women's Event Could Be Expanded To 6 Teams

Last Updated:August 31, 2025, 20:11 IST

Hockey India League returns in January 2026 with three venues, eight men's teams, and possibly six women's teams. Odisha Warriors and Team Gonasika withdraw after one season.

Rarh Bengal Tigers won the men's HIL. (Hockey India League on X)

The next edition of the recently revived Hockey India League (HIL) will be held at three venues instead of two in January 2026. According to Hockey India (HI) president Dilip Tirkey, the men’s HIL will continue to be an eight-team competition, but the women’s event could be expanded to six teams from the present four.

In another significant development, he confirmed that two teams — Visakhapatnam-based Team Gonasika and Odisha Warriors have withdrawn from the competition after just one season due to ‘personal’ reasons. The Warriors had won the women’s event last year in Rourkela. There will be a mini auction for next year’s HIL around September-October, and both teams’ players will go under the hammer.

“HIL will happen both in men and women category. In men mostly same teams will be there apart from Gonasika which withdrew because of personal reasons and we will name their replacement soon," Tirkey said on the sidelines of the ongoing men’s Asia Cup in Bihar, as quoted by PTI.

“There will no less than four teams in women and eight in the men’s competition. We were thinking of increasing women team to six, talks are on. This time there will be three venues in three different cities — 2 existing cities will remain and one will be added. From Odisha it will be a toss between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar," he added.

Odisha Warriors had caused a bit of a controversy after failing to pay their players on time, but Tirkey said the federation has cleared those dues.

“The Odisha Warriors were late in paying the players, so we paid on behalf of them after discussing with them. Odisha Warriors were champions among women, so their prize money was with us and we paid from there after taking their approval."

Plans to host HIL in Punjab

Tirkey also suggested that the federation was discussing ideas to host the league in North India but there are some issues still to sort out.

“A proposal came from Punjab and we also wanted to take HIL to North but after analysing we felt places like Chandigarh and Mohali will encounter fog problem in January. In future we will see," he said.

Cricketnext Staff

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First Published:

August 31, 2025, 20:11 IST

News sports Next HIL To Be Held In 3 Venues, Women's Event Could Be Expanded To 6 Teams

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