RuPay Pro Volleyball League is a professional men's indoor volleyball league and its inaugural season will take place in February 2019. The league is taking place with the collective efforts of the Volleyball Federation of India and Baseline Ventures. It will be officially broadcasted on Sony Pictures Networks India.
Pro Volleyball League Teams
Pro Volleyball League 2019 will have six teams participating in it with each team representing different Indian cities.
City | Team Name | Icon Player | Franchise Owner(s) |
Ahmedabad | Ahmedabad Defenders | Novica Bjelica | Bonhomie Sports Event Management Limited |
Calicut | Calicut Heroes | Paul Lotman | Beacon Sports |
Chennai | Chennai Spartans | Rudy Verhoeff | Chennai Spartans Private Limited |
Hyderabad | Black Hawks Hyderabad | Carson Clark | Agile Entertainment Private Limited |
Kochi | Kochi Blue Spikers | David Lee | Thomas Muthoot |
Mumbai | U Mumba Volley | Tomislav Coskovic | U Sports |
Pro Volleyball League Auction
Every team has upto 12 players with a maximum of two reserve players. These players were bought from a salary purse of Rs. 75 lakhs that was given to each franchise. A total of 117 players were up for sale via auction or player draft.
These 117 players were divided into four categories – International Icons, Indian Icons, Sr. Indian Internationals, Nationals and U-21 players where the International icon players were picked through a draft process while the Indian players were chosen via an auction.
Format
A total of 18 matches will be played in the 2019 season and each team will play against each other in a round-robin format. The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the semi finals from the final two teams will get selected.
Players to look out for
Ranjit Singh who emerged as the costliest player at the auction among all 117 Indian and six foreign players is expected to grab all eyeballs. The Olympic gold medalist, David Lee, who is drafted to Kochi Blue Spikers is also expected to perform well.