Pakistan Hockey League

History

Hockey is the national game of Pakistan and the Pakistan Hockey team is considered to be one of best hockey teams. They won the Hockey World Cup 4 times. In the past, Pakistan hosted many tournaments of hockey including 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup, but as other countries such as Australia built more hockey fields and at the same time Pakistan was unable to do so, there was a decline in hosting of international tournaments and in turn, the performance of Pakistani players. Pakistan Hockey Federation, therefore, is set to host it's league in Pakistan in which International players shall participate as well.

In February 2016, Pakistan Hockey Federation is set to launch its very own PRO Hockey League in October-November which will also involve foreign players, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Shahbaz Ahmed Senior revealed. The former Olympian believed development and growth of young hockey players will rely on the success of the league which will help Pakistan regain its historic aura as a hockey-playing nation.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided to organize Pakistan Hockey League and has initiated preparations for an autonomous board for this purpose.

According to sources the proposed board will work separately from the PHF for the preparations of Pakistan Hockey League. Contacts are being made with the former star hockey players for the first ever Hockey League in the history of the country. Shahbaz Sr will visit the U.S. and European countries for the participation of foreign players.

PHF President Brig (rtd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar said told, “We are vigorously making efforts to initiate our first pro league before the end of this year. And for that we’ve started to make contacts with players of different hockey playing nations, including Holland, Germany and Asian countries”. He also said that Pakistan’s hockey league would be sanctioned by International Hockey Federation (FIH) adding that the federation was in touch with world hockey governing body to avoid any clash with international events. “As soon as we get a nod from the FIH we’ll announce the exact dates of the league”.

Teams

Six teams participates in debut edition of Pakistan Hockey League, which will represents following cities/states, Lahore, Karachi, Kashmir, Peshawar, Quetta & Islamabad. Divulging details he said that there would be six teams of every province and each of these would have five foreign players. “We’re optimistic to get attention of a reasonable number of international players,” he said adding that the owners of the franchises would themselves decide the names of their teams.

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has succeeded to approve a Rs200 million grant for the promotion of hockey league.

To a query he said that best players from India would also be invited for the league adding that the exact situation regarding participation of players from the neighbouring country would be clear after a couple of months.

Khokhar also added that there would be three categories of players – category A, B and C. “Players of category A will be offered around 1.5 million rupees, of B category around one million rupees and that of C category will get around 0.8 million rupees”.

Rules and regulations

Six teams took part in the tournament and each team played two matches against each team, one at their home venue and one at the venue of the opposition team.

The points in the league phase of the tournament were awarded as follows:

If at the end of the League two or more teams had the same number of points for any place, these teams would be ranked according to the following order:

1. respective number of matches won;
2. respective goal difference (goals for less goals against). A positive goal difference always takes precedence over a negative one;
3. respective number of goals scored;
4. the cumulative results of the two matches played between those two teams taking firstly the points won in the two matches, secondly the goal difference, and thirdly the number of goals scored

Seasons

Pakistan Hockey Federation finalized that 6 teams to be finalized in 1st edition of Pakistan Hockey League, 30 foreign players will participate. PHF acquired services of former project head of PSL, means Salman Sarwar & Badar Rafai for Pakistan Hockey League.

Venues

The inaugural edition of Pakistan Hockey League will be held in three different cities of Pakistan. Faisalabad, Gojra and Lahore will be host this event. The league matches will be played in Faisalabad Hockey Stadium from Faisalabad, Gojra Hockey Stadium from Gojra and the National Hockey Stadium, Lahore. The final of this tournament will also be held in National Hockey Stadium, Lahore.

Broadcasting

Pakistan Hockey Federation said that they were in talks were also in progress for the official broadcasters of the league. The following Pakistani channels will be broadcasting of this league. The foreign channels who will be broadcast this league very soon announced.