Prime Volleyball League

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Prime Volleyball League
Most recent season or competition:
2022 Prime Volleyball League
Prime Volleyball League official logo.png
SportVolleyball
Founded2021
Inaugural season2022
AdministratorBaseline Ventures
CEOJoy Bhattacharjya
No. of teams7
Country India
Most recent
champion(s)		Kolkata Thunderbolts (1st title)
(2022)
Most titlesKolkata Thunderbolts (1 title)
TV partner(s)Sony Sports
Official websitePVL

Prime Volleyball League (PVL), also known as RuPay Prime Volleyball League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional men's indoor volleyball league in India. The inaugural season will take place in February 2022.[1] The league is an initiative of Baseline Ventures with no involvement from Volleyball Federation of India and a rechristened version of the Pro Volleyball League which was held in February 2019.[2] Sony Pictures Networks India is the official broadcaster of the league.[3] RuPay is the title sponsor of the league and signed the contract for three years.[4]

Background[]

The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) in association with the Baseline Ventures launched and conducted the inaugural season of a franchise-based indoor volleyball league called Pro Volleyball League in 2019 and Chennai Spartans won the title.[5] Later it was discontinued in the same year after the VFI and Baseline got embroiled in a dispute and the federation terminated the 10-year contract with Baseline alleging breach of trust.[6] In November 2020, a Madras High Court-appointed arbitrator found the termination wrongful and awarded Rs 4.5 crore to Baseline as compensation for terminating its contract.[7] In June 2021, Baseline Ventures joined hands with few original franchise owners from Pro Volleyball League to launch a new league called Prime Volleyball League with the no involvement from VFI this time. Five of the six teams (Ahmedabad, Calicut, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi) from Pro Volleyball League returned to this league with two new teams (Bengaluru and Kolkata) were added.[2]

On 14th February 2022, VFI announced the launch of Indian Volleyball League, making it the only recognised league by VFI in India.[8]

Teams[]

Current teams[]

Locations of the Seven PVL teams
Chennai Blitz
Chennai Blitz
Kochi Blue Spikers
Kolkata Thunderbolts
Kolkata Thunderbolts
Calicut Heroes
Bengaluru Torpedoes
Bengaluru Torpedoes
Hyderabad Black Hawks
Hyderabad Black Hawks
Ahmedabad Defenders
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Locations of the Seven PVL teams

The Prime Volleyball League encompassed seven franchises, representing cities across India.

Team Name City Captain Head Coach International Players Team Owner Ref.
Ahmedabad Defenders Ahmedabad, Gujarat India Muthusamy Appavu India Sajjad Hussain
India S Dakshinamoorthy 		United States Ryan Meehan
Argentina Rodrigo Villalboa 		Bonhomie Sports [9]
Bengaluru Torpedoes Bengaluru, Karnataka India Ranjit Singh India K R Lakshminarayana United States Kyle Friend
United States Noah Taitano 		Limitless Human Performance [10]
Calicut Heroes Calicut, Kerala India Jerome Vinith India Kishor Kumar United States David Lee
France Aaron Koubi 		Beacon Sports [11]
Chennai Blitz Chennai, Tamil Nadu India Mohan Ukkrapandian India Chander Singh Brazil Bruno Da Silva Amorim
Venezuela Fernando David Gonzalez 		SPP Group [12]
Hyderabad Black Hawks Hyderabad, Telangana India Vipul Kumar Argentina Ruben Wolochin Cuba Henry Bell Cisnero
Venezuela Luis Antonio Arias 		GlobalArena6 Sports LLP [13]
Kochi Blue Spikers Kochi, Kerala India Karthik India Dr. M. H. Kumara United States Colton Cowell
United States Cody Caldwell 		M Liga Sports [14]
Kolkata Thunderbolts Kolkata, West Bengal India Ashwal Rai India Sunny Joseph United States Ian Satterfield
United States Matthew August 		Kolkata Sports Ventures [15]

Format[]

PVL 2022[]

Each team will have 12 players with the provision of a maximum of two reserve players. All teams have a salary purse of Rs. 75 lakhs from which they can pick their team via an auction and player draft. Each team can pick maximum of two International players for Rs. 25 to 30 lakhs while the Indian players are chosen via an auction from the remaining money. The auction was taken place in Kochi on 14 December 2021. Players were divided into five categories with different base prices set for each category – International, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and U-21 players.[16]

There are a total of 24 matches with each team plays against each other in a single round-robin format with the top 4 teams moving into the Play-Offs. The tournament was earlier scheduled to be held in Kochi but later moved to Hyderabad due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.[1] All the matches will be held in Hyderabad at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium.

Tournament seasons and results[]

PVL season results[]

Season Final Final venue No. of
teams 		Ref.
Winner Score Runner-up
2022
Details 		Kolkata Thunderbolts 3–0 Ahmedabad Defenders Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad 7 [17]
2023

Teams' performances[]

Season
Teams
 2022
Ahmedabad Defenders 2nd
Bengaluru Torpedoes 5th
Calicut Heroes 4th
Chennai Blitz 6th
Hyderabad Black Hawks 3rd
Kochi Blue Spikers 7th
Kolkata Thunderbolts 1st

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "India to host its first-ever Prime Volleyball League in Hyderabad". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Prime league launched, VFI not amused". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  3. ^ "Prime Volleyball gets backing of 5 original team owners, signs Sony as long-term broadcast partner – Piston Des Sport". Piston Des Sport. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Prime Volleyball League signs RuPay as title sponsor for 3 years". The Economic Times. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Pro Volleyball League co-owner to take legal action against VFI". Sportstar. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  6. ^ "VFI terminates contract with Pro Volleyball League co-owners". Sportstar. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  7. ^ "Volleyball league to return in a new avatar sans federation support". The Economic Times. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  8. ^ Nair, Abhijit (2022-02-14). "PVL is illegal, says Federation while announcing Indian Volleyball League". thebridge.in. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  9. ^ "Ahmedabad Defenders | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  10. ^ "Bengaluru Torpedoes | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  11. ^ "Calicut Heroes | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  12. ^ "Chennai Blitz | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  13. ^ "Hyderabad Black Hawks | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  14. ^ "Kochi Blue Spikers | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  15. ^ "Kolkata Thunderbolts | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  16. ^ "Prime Volleyball League 2021 Auctions: Full list of players sold in auction". Sportstar. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  17. ^ "2022 Fixtures and Results | Prime Volleyball League". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
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