PKL: List of all cities that have hosted Pro Kabaddi League

Multiple cities have hosted the PKL till now.

Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is one of the most successful franchise-modelled leagues in India. While the sport of Kabaddi is a well-known one to the people of India, the other reason is the fact that the organisers took the league to various cities.

Since the tickets were very affordable compared to a cricket match, general sports fanatics started watching Kabaddi as well. This has slowly laid the foundation for the popularity of the league and has contributed massively to the success of PKL. A total of 18 cities have hosted the league so far.

Also Read: PKL: Top five interesting stats of Pro Kabaddi League

Home Leg Matches for Each Team

In 2014, when PKL was launched, the format for the league stage was a double-round robin format where each team would face every other opponent twice. The tournament happened in a caravan format where all teams would travel to a city to play a set of matches before all moving to another city.

Each team will get to host the league once in their home city, where they will play the most games. Mumbai hosted the first-ever PKL game between U Mumba and Jaipur Pink Panthers on 26th July 2014. The league subsequently moved to Kolkata and Delhi where Bengal Warriorz and Dabang Delhi played hosts

Multiple Host Cities for a Team

Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur and Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune have hosted the home games of the Jaipur Pink Panthers and Puneri Paltan, respectively. Patna Pirates, the most successful franchise in PKL history, used to play their home games in Patna. In 2017, the Pirates moved their base to Ranchi.

To increase their fan base and the close proximity of Ranchi to their actual home were reasons for Ranchi being preferred. Telugu Titans also has a couple of cities. Their primary venue has been the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad.

Titans have also played at Vishakapatnam to cover both states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Bengaluru Bulls play their home matches in the garden city of Bengaluru, except in 2017 when they had to move to Nagpur as their usual venue was hosting the FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship.

Introduction of Kabaddi Powerhouses

While the league was a great success in the first four years, many were surprised to see the exclusion of Tamil Nadu and Haryana, two of the traditional kabaddi powerhouses. In 2017, the league included four teams, with Tamil Thalaivas playing their home games in Chennai.

The southern city also hosted the finals in that season. Haryana Steelers started with Sonipat as their home venue; the season 11 champions also play at Tau Devilal Sports Complex in Panchkula. The TransStadia Arena in Ahmedabad serves as the home venue for Gujarat Giants.

Efforts to make non-franchise cities as Hosts

UP Yoddhas are being hosted by the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida. In 2017, they played in Lucknow at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.

The organisers have also tried their hand in taking the league to non-franchise cities like Kochi, as they hosted four playoff games in season six. In years to come, the organisers might take it to a few more cities as well.

Cities to have hosted the PKL

• Ahmedabad – The Arena by TransStadia
• Bengaluru – Sree Kanteerava Stadium
• Chennai – Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium
• Delhi – Thiyagaraja Sports Complex
• Greater Noida – Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex
• Hyderabad – Gachibowli Indoor Stadium
• Jaipur – Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium
• Kochi – Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium
• Kolkata – Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium
• Lucknow – Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium
• Mumbai – Dome, NSCI
• Nagpur – Mankapur Indoor Stadium
• Panchkula – Tau Devilal Sports Complex
• Patna – Patalipura Sports Complex
• Pune – Shree Shiv Chatrapathi Sports Complex
• Ranchi – Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium
• Sonepat – Motilal Nehru Stadium
• Vishakapatnam – Rajiv Gandhi Stadium

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