PKL 2025 Full Guide: Rules, Auction, Teams & Start Date

Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 2025 is all set to begin, marking the 12th exciting season of the league.

Whether you're a die-hard fan or just getting started with Kabaddi, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know — from PKL’s unique rules to the 2025 player auction, team squads, and match schedule.

What is PKL?

The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is India’s premier men’s professional Kabaddi league, launched in 2014.

It’s the most popular Kabaddi tournament in the world, with the very first season drawing an incredible 435 million viewers, and the final alone watched by 86 million people.

Today, PKL is ranked as the third most-watched sports league in India, just after the IPL (Indian Premier League) and the ISL (Indian Super League).
Some even call it the "IPL of Kabaddi" — and that’s no exaggeration!

PKL Rules

Unlike traditional Kabaddi formats, the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has introduced unique rules to suit modern audiences and fast-paced broadcasting needs.

30-Second Raid Rule

Each raider must complete their raid — either by tagging a defender or safely returning to their half — within 30 seconds. If not, the point goes to the opposing team.

Do-or-Die Raid

If a team fails to score in two consecutive raids, the third raid becomes do-or-die — the raider must score, or they’re out and the opponent gains a point.

Super Raid

When a raider successfully eliminates 3 or more defenders in a single raid, it’s called a Super Raid.

While it doesn’t offer any extra points by rule, it can give a big morale boost to the team.

Super Tackle

If the defending team has 3 or fewer players left on the mat and they manage to stop the raider, they earn 2 points.

Bonus Line

If the defending team has at least 6 players on the mat, the raider can earn 1 bonus point just by crossing the bonus line and returning safely — no need to tag a defender.

PKL 2025 Auction

Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) follows a franchise-based system, where teams rebuild their squads every year through a player auction.
The PKL 2025 auction made headlines with a record-breaking ₹379 crore spent across all teams — the highest in PKL history.

This season also introduced changes to the Final Bid Match (FBM) rule, shaking up how teams retain or reclaim key players during bidding.

Before the auction, each team had the option to retain players through three categories:

• Elite Retained Players (ERP):
  Experienced core players, up to 6 per team.
• Retained Young Players (RYP):
  Talented youngsters under 21 who have already played for the team, up to 6 per team.
• New Young Players (NYP):
  Players under 21 who have not yet appeared in a PKL match, also limited to 6 per team.

A total of 83 players were retained this time, including 25 ERP, 23 RYP, and 35 NYP.

PKL Auction Format

In the PKL auction, players are divided into four categories based on their base price:

• Category A: ₹30 lakh
• Category B: ₹20 lakh
• Category C: ₹13 lakh
• Category D: ₹9 lakh

Within each category, players are further grouped into all-rounders, defenders, and raiders, making it easier for teams to strategize their bids by position.

Each team has a total salary purse of ₹5 crore, but the actual spending limit during the auction depends on how much they’ve already used to retain players.

Team squads must consist of 18 to 25 players, including a maximum of 4 overseas players.

Final Bid Match (FBM) Rule

When a released player receives the highest bid during the auction, their original team has the option to retain them using a Final Bid Match (FBM) card — available for either one or two seasons, depending on the team's choice.

Once a team raises the FBM card for a player, the decision is binding — they must retain the player and cannot back out or change their mind.

The number of FBM opportunities available to each team depends on how many Elite Retained Players (ERP) they kept before the auction:

• If a team retained 6 ERP, they can use only 1 FBM
• If they retained 5 ERP, they can use 2 FBMs
• If they retained 4 or fewer ERP, they can use up to 3 FBMs

Top Buys of the PKL 2025 Auction

Over 500 domestic and international players went under the hammer in the PKL 2025 auction, with 121 players eventually signed by the 12 franchises.

Here's a look at the most expensive signings of the season:

Mohammadreza Shadloui – Signed by Gujarat Giants for ₹2.23 crore.
This marks his third consecutive season crossing the ₹2 crore mark, once again making him the auction’s hottest pick.

Devank Dalal – Snapped up by Bengal Warriors for ₹2.205 crore.
Last season’s Best Raider will also take on the role of team captain this year.

Ashu Malik – Retained by Dabang Delhi using the Final Bid Match (FBM) rule at ₹1.90 crore for a 2-season deal.

Arjun Deshwal – Acquired by Tamil Thalaivas for ₹1.405 crore.
The former captain of Jaipur Pink Panthers brings leadership and scoring firepower.

PKL 2025 Teams

A total of 12 teams will compete in PKL 2025. Here’s a quick look at each team’s key retained players and notable new signings ahead of the season:

Bengal Warriors

ERP: Vishwas S
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Devank Dalal (₹2.205 Cr, Season 11 Best Raider, 301 pts), Jang Kun Lee, Omid Khojasteh Mohammadshah, Parteek
• Defenders: Nitesh Kumar (₹2.025 Cr, FBM - 1 season), Mayur Jagannath Kadam (₹1.3 Cr, FBM - 1 season), Ankit, Sandeep, Harander, Shivansh Thakur
• All-Rounders: Ashish Malik, Moolchandra Singh

Bengaluru Bulls

ERP: Saurabh Nandal, Rohit Kumar
RYP: Vishwas S, Nitin Kumar
NYP: Aditya Shankar Powar, Shreyas Umbardand, Maharudra Garje, Dipak Arjun Shinde
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Akash Shinde (₹5.31 Cr, Day 2's 2nd highest bid), Mahipal
• Defenders: Shubham Rahate, Shubham Bitake
• All-Rounders: Sachin, Sahil Rane, Amit Singh Thakur

Dabang Delhi K.C.

ERP: Vikrant
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Ashu Malik (₹1.9 Cr, FBM - 2 seasons), Neeraj Narwal (₹3.26 Cr), Ajinkya Ashok Pawar, Anil Gurjar, Vijay
• Defenders: Fazel Atrachali (₹3 Cr, Iranian legend), Surjeet Singh, Saurabh Nandal, Gaurav Chhillar
• All-Rounders: Amir Bastami, Naveen, Ashish Kumar Sangwan, Arkam Shaikh

Gujarat Giants

ERP: Rakesh HS, Parteek Dahiya
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Ajith V Kumar (₹3.63 Cr), K Harish, Ankit
• Defenders: Mohammadreza Shadloui (₹2.23 Cr, top auction bid), Milad Jabbari, Lucky Sharma, Shubham Kumar, Sumit
• All-Rounders: Nitin Panwar, Himanshu Yadav

Haryana Steelers

ERP: Jaideep Dahiya, Mohit
RYP: Vinay, Shivam Anil Patare, Vishal S. Tate, Jaya Soorya NS
NYP: Manikandan N, Rahul Sethpal, Sahil, Vikas Ramadas Jadhav
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Naveen Kumar (₹1.2 Cr, 1102 raid pts), Shahan Sha Mohammed, Ghanshyam Roka Magar
• Defenders: Rahul, Ritik, Zubair, Hardeep

Jaipur Pink Panthers

ERP: Reza Mirbagheri, Ronak Singh, Nitin Kumar
RYP: Sombir, Ritik Sharma
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Arjun Deshwal (₹1.405 Cr, FBM), Ali Samadi Choubtarash, Uday Parte (₹5.01 Cr)
• All-Rounders: Nitin Rawal (₹5 Cr)

Patna Pirates

Key Signings:

• Raiders: Mandeep
• Defenders: Amin Ghorbani, Balasaheb Shahaji Jadhav

Puneri Paltan

ERP: Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat, Abinesh Nadaraja, Gaurav Khatri, Dadaso Shivaji Pujari, Pankaj Mohite, Aditya Tushar Shinde
NYP: Sanjay Enania, Rakesh, Vaibhav S
Key Signings:

• Raiders: V Ajith Kumar (₹6.6 Cr), Abhishek Tukaram Gunge, Stuwart Singh, Sachin
• Defenders: Aman, Vishal, Ali Hadi, Mohammed Amaan
• All-Rounders: Gurdeep, Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh, Milad Mohajer

Tamil Thalaivas

ERP: Abinesh Nadarajan, Gaurav Khatri, Sagar, Narender
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Sachin Tanwar (₹2.15 Cr), Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (₹5.95 Cr)

Telugu Titans

Key Signings:

• Raiders: Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (₹1.725 Cr, FBM)

U Mumba

ERP: Sunil Kumar, Amirmohammad Zafardanesh
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Sandeep Kumar (₹4.9 Cr)
• All-Rounders: Aanil Mohan (₹7.8 Cr, Day 2 highest bid)

UP Yoddhas

ERP: Surender Gill
RYP: Bhavani Rajput, Gagana Gowda HR, Shivam Chaudhary
NYP: Ashu Singh, Jayesh Vikas Mahajan, Gangaram, Sachin, Sahul Kumar, Hitesh
Key Signings:

• Raiders: Guman Singh (₹1.073 Cr), Dong Geon Lee, Jatin, Pranay Vinay Rane
• Defenders: Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi, Sumit, Ronak, Mahender Singh

Since 2014, a total of eight different teams have won the PKL title:

• Patna Pirates, who have won 3 times (including a rare three consecutive titles)
• Jaipur Pink Panthers, who have won twice
• U Mumba, Bengaluru Bulls, Bengal Warriors, Dabang Delhi K.C., Puneri Paltan, and Haryana Steelers, each with one title.

In the 2024 season (Season 11), Haryana Steelers won their first-ever championship by defeating Patna Pirates.

PKL Tournament Format

PKL follows a league + playoffs format. In the league stage, 12 teams compete in a double round-robin, where each team plays every other team twice, totaling 132 matches (22 matches per team).

Points System:

• Win: 5 points
• Draw: 3 points each
• Loss by 7 points or less: 1 point
• Loss by more than 7 points: 0 points

At the end of the league stage, the top 6 teams qualify for the playoffs. If teams have equal points, score difference is used as a tiebreaker.

Playoffs

• The top 2 teams go directly to the semifinals.
• Teams ranked 3rd to 6th compete in the eliminators:
  • Eliminator 1: 3rd vs 6th, winner advances to Semifinal 1
  • Eliminator 2: 4th vs 5th, winner advances to Semifinal 2

Semifinals

• Semifinal 1: 1st place vs winner of Eliminator 1
• Semifinal 2: 2nd place vs winner of Eliminator 2

Final

Winners of the semifinals face off to compete for the championship.

When Does PKL 2025 Start

The 12th season of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 2025) is scheduled to start on 17th October 2025, spanning across three cities: Hyderabad, Noida, and Pune.

The opening match will take place at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad. The 2025 PKL season is divided into three phases:
🔹 Phase 1 (17th October – Early November): Hyderabad
🔹 Phase 2 (Mid November – Early December): Noida
🔹 Phase 3 (Early December – Mid December): Pune

The full schedule, including match timings and fixtures, will be released by the official PKL authorities soon!

How to watch PKL Season 12

Want to catch every match of Pro Kabaddi League 2025 live? Official broadcast will be on Star Sports Network. You can also stream live online via Disney+ Hotstar or Dubai7.

Not only can you watch the PKL matches for free live on Dubai7, but you can also place bets on Kabaddi and support your favourite PKL champion in real time!