Pro Volleyball League
# Pro Volleyball League

Pro Volleyball League (PVL) was a professional men's indoor volleyball league in India. The inaugural season took place in February 2019. The league was an initiative between the Volleyball Federation of India, Head Digital Works Pvt. Ltd. and Baseline Ventures. The inaugural season of the league was won by Chennai Spartans. Later in the year 2022 the league was rebranded as Prime Volleyball League.

## Structure

The Pro Volleyball League encompassed six franchises, representing cities across India. All teams filed tenders with Baseline Ventures, listing the two cities they would be interested in bidding for. The teams were officially announced at a press conference in Mumbai.

## Teams

| City | Team Name | International Players | Team Owner |
| - | - | - | - |
| Ahmedabad | Ahmedabad Defenders | Novica Bjelica and Victor Sysoev | Bonhomie Sports Event Management Limited |
| Kozhikode | Calicut Heroes | Paul Lotman and Iluoni Ngampourou | Beacon Sports |
| Chennai | Chennai Spartans | Rudy Verhoeff and Ruslans Sorokins | Chennai Spartans Sports Private Limited |
| Hyderabad | Black Hawks Hyderabad | Carson Clark and Alexander Bader | Agile Entertainment Private Limited |
| Kochi | Kochi Blue Spikers | David Lee and Andrej Patuc | Thomas Muthoot |
| Mumbai | U Mumba Volley | Tomislav Coskovic and Nicholas Del Bianco | U Sports |

## Format

Each team will have 12 players with the provision of a maximum of two reserve players. All teams have a salary purse of ₹75 lakhs from which they pick their team via an auction and player draft. Players are divided into five categories – International Icons, Indian Icons, Sr. Indian Internationals, Nationals, and U-21 players. The International Icon players are picked through a draft process while the Indian players are chosen via an auction. Ranjit Singh of Punjab emerged as the top pick in Season 1. Ahmedabad Defenders shelled out ₹13 lakhs for him at the auction.

There were a total of 18 matches in Season 1. Each team plays against each other in a round-robin format with the top 4 teams moving into the Semi-Finals. In Season 1, matches were held in Kochi at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium and in Chennai at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

## Season 1

The first season started on 2 February 2019 and concluded on 22 February 2019.

### Fixtures

| Date | Venue | Phase | Fixture | Winner | Result | Man of the match |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 02-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 1 - Round Robin | Kochi Blue Spikers Vs U Mumba Volley | Kochi | 4-1 | Mohan Ukkrapandian |
| 03-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 2 - Round Robin | Calicut Heroes Vs Chennai Spartans | Calicut | 4-1 | Ajith Lal C |
| 04-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 3 - Round Robin | Ahmedabad Defenders Vs Blackhawks Hyderabad | Hyderabad | 2-3 | Carson Clark |
| 05-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 4 - Round Robin | Calicut Heroes Vs U Mumba Volley | Calicut | 3-2 | Saqlain Tariq |
| 06-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 5 - Round Robin | Kochi Blue Spikers Vs Ahmedabad Defenders | Kochi | 3-2 | Mohan Ukkrapandian |
| 07-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 6 - Round Robin | Chennai Spartans Vs Blackhawks Hyderabad | Chennai | 4-1 | Naveen Raja Jacob |
| 08-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 7 - Round Robin | Kochi Blue Spikers Vs Blackhawks Hyderabad | Kochi | 3-2 | David Lee |
| 09-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 8 - Round Robin | Kochi Blue Spikers Vs Calicut Heroes | Calicut | 0-5 | Paul Lotman |
| 10-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 9 - Round Robin | Calicut Heroes Vs Blackhawks Hyderabad | Calicut | 3-2 | Kamlesh Khatik |
| 11-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 10 - Round Robin | Kochi Blue Spikers Vs Chennai Spartans | Kochi | 3-2 | David Lee |
| 12-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 11 - Round Robin | U Mumba Volley Vs Blackhawks Hyderabad | Hyderabad | 2-3 | Carson Clark |
| 13-Feb-19 | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi | Matchday 12 - Round Robin | Calicut Heroes Vs Ahmedabad Defenders | Calicut | 4-1 | Paul Lotman |
| 16-Feb-19 | Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai | Matchday 13 - Round Robin | Chennai Spartans Vs U Mumba Volley | Mumbai | 2-3 | Deepesh Sinha |
| 17-Feb-19 | Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai | Matchday 14 - Round Robin | Chennai Spartans Vs Ahmedabad Defenders | Chennai | 4-1 | Rudy Verhoeff |
| 18-Feb-19 | Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai | Matchday 15 - Round Robin | U Mumba Volley Vs Ahmedabad Defenders | Mumbai | 4-1 | Vinit Kumar |
| 19-Feb-19 | Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai | Matchday 16 - Semi Final 1 | Calicut Heroes Vs U Mumba Volley | Calicut | 3-0 | Jerome Vinith |
| 20-Feb-19 | Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai | Matchday 17 - Semi Final 2 | Kochi Blue Spikers Vs Chennai Spartans | Chennai | 2-3 | Ruslans Sorokin |
| 22-Feb-19 | Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai | Matchday 18 - Final | Calicut Heroes Vs Chennai Spartans | Chennai | 0-3 | Naveen Raja Jacob |
