Mumbai, May 30 (IANS) Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 12 player auction, set to take place on May 31 and June 1 with top Indian and international kabaddi stars going under the hammer, sees exciting changes, including an updated Final Bid Match (FBM) rule and features a star-studded player pool with over 500 athletes available for bidding.

Among the star-studded player pool are elite Indian players like Pawan Sehrawat, Arjun Deshwal, Ashu Malik and Devank Dalal (PKL 11’s top raider), along with international powerhouses Fazel Atrachali and Mohammadreza Shadloui. Legendary names such as Maninder Singh and Pardeep Narwal also return to the auction table while Naveen Kumar enters the PKL Player Auction for the first time after six seasons with Dabang Delhi K.C.

In this year’s PKL player auction for the first time in league history, every single champion player from Seasons 1 to 11 is in the auction pool and available for teams to bid on. Whether it’s record-breaking raiders or game-changing defenders, every franchise now has a shot at signing the very players who have defined PKL’s biggest moments.

The highlight of the Season 12 auction is the revised Final Bid Match (FBM) rule which will support long-term squad building and greater team continuity. Previously, the FBM rule allowed teams to retain a player for only one season. Now, franchises have the option to retain a player for either one or two seasons at the time of exercising their FBM.

As per the new FBM rule, when a player who was part of a team in Season 11 receives the highest bid from another franchise, the auctioneer will ask the player’s previous team if they’d like to exercise their FBM. If they choose to do so, they must immediately raise either the one-season or two-season FBM card — whichever card is raised first will be considered final. If the team exercises the FBM, the player is awarded to them at the final bid price. If they do not, the player goes to the highest bidder.

The number of FBM cards a team can use is linked to the number of Elite Retained Players (ERPs); 6 ERPs retained means a team can use 1 FBM, 5 ERPs retained means 2 FBMs and 4 or fewer ERPs retained means 3 FBMs.

For this year’s player auction, all teams can use up to 3 FBMs, except UP Yoddhas, who are eligible for 2 FBMs.

A total of 83 players have been retained by the 12 PKL franchises ahead of the player auction; 25 in the Elite Retained Players (ERP) category, 23 in the Retained Young Players (RYP) category, 35 in the New Young Players (NYP) category. This leaves a maximum of 217 slots to be filled during the Player Auction.

Each franchise starts with a salary purse of Rs 5 crore, adjusted for any players already retained. Teams are allowed a minimum of two and a maximum of four overseas players in their squads.

Players have been categorised into four groups; Category A – Rs 30 lakh, Category B – Rs 20 lakh, Category C – Rs 13 lakh, Category D – Rs 9 lakh.

–IANS

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