Franchise-based hockey league later this year

LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has formally announced a franchise-based league to revive the country’s national game.

Giving details of the league, PHF president Brig Sajjad Khokhar stated that the league will be held in Lahore in October and November.

He said that Pakistan’s flagship hockey league will feature five franchise city teams in the inaugural season.

The franchise teams will be named after Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar, he added.

Some of the leading stars of the hockey world will represent the teams, Khokhar claimed.

“Players from hockey powerhouses Holland, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Korea, Japan and Argentina amongst others will form the foreign players’ roster,” he said.

“The PHF has brought on-board a highly skilled and experienced sports management and marketing team to run the league.

“The setup of the league’s secretariat is now complete and it is fully operational at the PHF head office in Lahore. In February this year, the PHF signed a consultancy agreement with Salman Sarwar Butt (Senior Advisor) and Harris Jalil Mir (Project Director-Franchise Hockey League) in a mission to develop the league to match international standards,” said the PHF official.

“Harris adds valuable sports management and marketing experience earned at the domestic and international levels which is spread over ten years. Salman was part of the launching team of the Pakistan Super League which has gone onto become one of the most sought-after cricket leagues in the world,” said the country's hockey chief.

He further stated that external area specialist partners have also been recruited by the PHF following an extensive bidding process which was held in Lahore earlier this month. Some of the leading creative and sports management and marketing agencies participated in the process.

“The Blue Dot, Pakistan’s premier marketing strategy specialist who have worked in the Pakistan Super League season 7, and Design Room Sport, a London-based creative design agency that specialises in brand development for major sports and leagues like The Ashes, the UEFA Champions League final, British Athletics Represent and the CONCACAF Champions League have been selected by PHF to create the brand identity for the league.

“With a world class corporate team in place, the PHF has firmly pushed the pedal on the first edition of the franchise league,” Khokhar elaborated. PHF secretary general Asif Bajwa stated: “This league will serve as a platform to develop local players into future stars as they play alongside top players.”