Pro Kabaddi: Auction dates for season 10 announced

The auction for Pro Kabaddi League season 10 will be held on 8 - 9 September 2023 in Mumbai, featuring a pool of more than 500 players, the league announced on Monday.

The total Salary Purse available to each franchise for its squad has increased from INR 4.4 crore to INR 5 crore after three seasons.

The Domestic and Overseas players will be divided into four categories: Category A, B, C, and D.

The players will be further subdivided as ‘All-Rounders,’ ‘Defenders,’ and ‘Raiders’ within each category. The base prices for each of the classes are Category A – INR 30 Lakh, Category B – INR 20 Lakh, Category C – INR 13 Lakh, and Category D – INR 9 Lakh. The Season 10 Player Pool will consist of 500+, including the 24 players from the two finalist teams of the Khelo India University Games 2023.

League Anupam Goswami said, "The tenth Season is such a major milestone for any contemporary sports league in India. The PKL Season X Player Auction, too, will be a landmark in PKL’s history. Along with the retentions and nominations under the Season X Player Policy, our 12 franchises will use the Player Auction to select the world’s best kabaddi athletes for their teams”.

The PKL teams also have a choice of retaining players from their respective PKL Season 9 squads as per the league policies. The franchises are allowed to retain up to 6 players under the Elite Retained Players classification under stipulated conditions in each PKL season. The players, who are not retained by the franchises and from the pool of 500+ players, will go under the hammer during the two-day auction process in Mumbai.

Jaipur Pink Panthers won Season 9 of the Pro Kabaddi League in 2022, defeating Puneri Paltan to claim their second-ever PKL title.

With more young players emerging last season, it will be interesting to see which players are retained and which players make it to the auction table.