The fifth edition of Hockey India League (HIL) will commence from January 21 and will go on till February 26. The schedule of this edition was announced by Hockey India (HI) on January 11. Following the opening ceremony in Mumbai, the opening game of this edition will be played between Dabang Mumbai and Ranchi Rays at Mumbai.

Continuing with the tradition, semi-finals and the final will be hosted in defending champion Jaypee Punjab’s home venue, Chandigarh. In the last edition, Jaypee Punjab Warriors defeated Kalinga Lancers in the final. All the matches will be played under lights across six venues in the cities of Chandigarh, Ranchi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, and Bhubaneswar this season starting at 7:00 PM, local time.

Some big Indian and international names will be taking part in this year’s event including Indian captain Sardar Singh who desired to make a comeback in the national side for the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup. The bid for this season was closed on November 16. Gurbaj Singh was the star attraction and was picked by Ranchi Rays for $99,000. While, among the foreign players, Germany forward Christopher Ruhr also went to Ranchi Rays for $75,000. Few other notable bids were for Tom Craig to Kalinga Lancers, Seve Van Ass to Uttar Pradesh Wizards and Robert van der Horst to Jaypee Punjab Warriors.

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Here are the full squads for the tournament:

DABANG MUMBAI

Forwards: Robbert Kemperman (Netherlands), Johan Bjorkman (Sweden), Florian Fuchs (Germany), Gurjant Singh, Roshan Minz, Affan Yousuf, Niikin Thimmaiah, Danish Mujtaba, Kieran Govers (Australia)

Midfielders: Manpreet, Tyron Pereira, Vikas Sharma, Nilakanta Sharma

Defenders: Emmanuel Stockbroekx (Belgium), Sander de Wijn (Netherlands), Jeremy Hayward (Australia), Harmanpreet Singh, Gurmail Singh,

Goalkeepers: Krishan B Pathak, David Harte (Ireland)

DELHI WAVERIDERS

Forwards: Iain Levers (England), Mandeep Antil, Talwinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Prabhdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Pradhan Sommanna, Simon Child (New Zealand)

Midfielders: Benjamin Stanzl (Austria), Santa Singh, Surender Singh, Harjeet Singh

Defenders: Manuel Brunet (Argentina), Tristan White (Australia), Vickram Kanth, Rupinder Pal Singh, Justin Reid-Ross (South Africa), Austin Smith (South Africa)

Goalkeepers: Vincent Vanasch (Belgium), Harjot Singh

JAYPEE PUNJAB WARRIORS

Forwards: Ajit Kumar Pandey, Armaan Qureshi, Jackob Whetton (Australia), Jasjit Singh Kular, Mark Gleghorne (England), Nithin Thimmaiah, Satbir Singh, SV Sunil

Midfielders: Baljit Singh Boparai, Matt Gohdes (Australia), Robert Van Der Horst (Netherlands), Sardar Singh, Simon Orchard (Australia)

Defenders: Christopher Ciriello (Australia), Harbir Singh Sandhu, Hardik Singh, Mark Knowles (Australia), Varun Kumar

Goalkeepers: Jugraj Singh, Tristan Clemons (Australia)

KALINGA LANCERS

Forwards: Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Malak Singh, SK Uthappa, Dharamvir Singh, Glenn Turner (Australia)

Midfielders: Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Billy Bakker (Netherlands), Tom Craig (Australia), Adam Dixon (England), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Devinder Walmiki, Moritz Fuerste (Germany)

Defenders: Pardeep Mor, Matthew Dawson (Australia), Anand Lakra, Gurijinder Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Aran Zalewski (Australia), Amit Rohidas

Goalkeepers: Abhinav Kumar Pandey, Andrew Charter (Australia)

RANCHI RAYS

Forwards: Christopher Ruhr (Germany), Sarvanjit Singh, Sumit Kumar, Mohammad Amir Khan, Imran Khan

Midfielders: Flynn Ogilvie (Australia), Sumit, Simranjeet Singh, Barry Middleton (England), Trent Mitton (Australia), Ashley Jackson (England), Gurbaj Singh, Kothajit Singh, Manpreet Singh

Defenders: Birendra Lakra, Timothy Deavin (Australia), Vikramjit Singh, Fergus Kavanagh (Australia)

Goalkeepers: Akash Chikte, Tyler Lovell (Australia)

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UTTAR PRADESH WIZARDS

Forwards: Ajay Yadav, PR Aiyappa, Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh

Midfielders: Seve Van Ass (Netherlands), Shamsher Singh, Ajitesh Roy, Agustin Mazzilli (Argentina), Vikas Pillay, Chinglenasana Singh, Sander Baart (Netherlands), Eddie Ockenden (Australia)

Defenders: Arthur Van Doren (Belgium), Nicholas Spooner (South Africa), Gonzalo Peillat (Argentina), Gurinder Singh, VR Raghunath, Jolie Wouter (Netherlands)

Goalkeepers: Suraj Karkera, PR Sreejesh

Announcing the schedule, Narinder Dhruv, HIL chairman in a statement to IANS told, “The Coal India Hockey League has been a huge success in how it has helped popularise the sport across the country. It has not just been a great spectacle for fans and players, but also a great model to demonstrate sustained growth for the sport.”

He added, “We hope to raise the bar again this season, by increasing reach to more fans via innovative mediums as well as better revenues for players and sponsors.”