In the world of professional sports leagues, the withdrawal of a franchise owner is usually seen as a death knell for a team. Just a few days before the auction for the 2025-26 men’s and women’s Hockey India League season, the owners of Team Gonasikas and UP Rudras from the men’s HIL, and Odisha Warriors from the women’s HIL, pulled out of the league due to financial sustainability concerns. The future of the players hangs in the balance.
The league that made a comeback after a seven-year hiatus again raised some serious questions. While Team Gonasikas and Odisha Warriors were replaced by Ranchi Royals in both men’s and women’s HIL, the franchise from Uttar Pradesh struggles to find any owner. However, in a rare move, the HIL Governing Council (HIL GC) stepped in to manage the crises and represented the UP Rudra team in the mini auction to maintain the competitive balance of the league.
Now the team is rebranded as the “HIL Governing Council” team and this ownerless unit under Hockey India finds itself in a unique psychological position . They are playing without the commercial pressure of a private owner while carrying the weight of the league. This can be a double-edged sword. Bad performance means the team will struggle to get a caretaker in the next season as the team’s future is already doubtful.
The Men’s HIL 2026 season will kick off on January 3 and the final is slated for January 26. Led by India vice-captain Hardik Singh, one of the world’s top midfielders, the HIL GC team features a blend of seasoned internationals and exciting local talent, and has all the capabilities to rise to the occasion as a dark horse.
With players like Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Kane Russell, Sam Ward and German powerhouse Thies Prinz (acquired for a staggering ₹36 lakh in the mini auction), the unit is built for the tactical style of play favoured by their head coach, Paul van Ass, the Dutch mastermind known for his “Total Hockey” philosophy.
Defence: This department is led by New Zealand’s veteran Kane Russell who stepped in as a drag-flicker whenever the team needed goals in the previous season. James Albery and the young Priyobarta Talem can also play a crucial role.
Midfield: Controlled by Hardik Singh and Theis Prinz, they can dictate the tempo. The young Manmeet Singh, who scored six goals at the FIH Junior World Cup, is capable of brilliant stick work in both midfield and forward line.
Attack: Featuring the flair of veterans like Sebastian Dockier, Sam Ward, Tanguy Cosyns and Lalit Upadhyay, the team has the capability to initiate the press, forcing errors and disrupting the opposition’s defence.
Weakness: The team, on paper, has ticked almost all the boxes. Still, they lack like-to-like replacements in midfield, have limited substitution options in the defensive line and largely depend on inexperienced fresh legs. The team is heavily relied on overseas strikers an injury can halt the campaign as team lacks variety also final touch can be a big issue as in the previous edition the team ( UP Rudra) with almost same core struggled to convert cricle entries into goals.
Goalkeeping is another concern, English custodian James Mazarelo has already proved his reflexes and goalpost guarding ability in the previous edition and has emerged as one of the best in the business in crunch situations but the second goalkeeper option does not provide the same level of stability.
Full Squad:
Indians: Prashant Barla, Priyobarta Talem, Manmeet Singh, Gurjot Singh, Hardik Singh, Prashant K Chauhan, Surender Kumar, Lalit K Upadhyay, Sudeep Chirmako, Jasjit Singh Kular, Ajeet Yadav, Rahul Yadav, Mohd Harris.
Overseas: Sebastian Dockier, Kane Russell, Tanguy Cosyns, James Mazarelo, James Albery, Sam Ward, Thies Prinz.
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