Prime Volleyball League is a professional men's indoor volleyball league in India. The inaugural season took place in February 2022. The league is an initiative of Baseline Ventures with no involvement from Volleyball Federation of India and a rechristened version of the Pro Volleyball League which was held in February 2019. Sony Pictures Networks India is the official broadcaster of the league. Bengaluru Torpedoes are the defending champions having defeated the Mumbai Meteors in the 2025 PVL final.
Background The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) in association with the Baseline Ventures launched and conducted the inaugural season of a franchise-based indoor volleyball league called Pro Volleyball League in 2019 and Chennai Spartans won the title. Later it was discontinued in the same year after the VFI and Baseline got embroiled in a dispute and the federation terminated the 10-year contract with Baseline alleging breach of trust. In November 2020, a Madras High Court-appointed arbitrator found the termination wrongful and awarded crore to Baseline as compensation for terminating its contract. In June 2021, Baseline Ventures joined hands with few original franchise owners from Pro Volleyball League to launch a new league called Prime Volleyball League with no involvement from VFI this time. Five of the six teams (Ahmedabad Defenders, Calicut Heroes, Chennai Spartans, Hyderabad Black Hawks and Kochi Blue Spikers) from Pro Volleyball League returned to this league with two new teams (Bengaluru Torpedoes and Kolkata Thunderbolts) were added for the inaugural edition.
On 14 February 2022, VFI announced the launch of Indian Volleyball League, making it the only recognised league by VFI in India.
Volleyball World has signed multiple-year contract with Prime Volleyball League. Prime Volleyball League will broadcast globally through its platform.
In October 2022, the league announced an eighth team called the Mumbai Meteors that is based in Mumbai which played from the 2023 Prime Volleyball League season. They were bought by the PhonePe owners.
In December 2023, the league announced a ninth team called the Delhi Toofans that is based in Delhi which played from the 2024 Prime Volleyball League season. They were bought by the Sanghi Group.
In June 2024, the league announced a tenth team called Goa Guardians that is based in Panaji, Goa which played from the 2025 Prime Volleyball League season. They were bought by the Chekuri Sports Ventures.
Teams
The Prime Volleyball League encompassed ten franchises, representing cities across India. Team nameCityCaptainHead coachInternational playersTeam ownerDebutRef.Ahmedabad DefendersAhmedabad, Gujarat Muthusamy Appavu Sajjad Hussain S Dakshinamoorthy Ryan Meehan Rodrigo VillalboaBonhomie Sports2022 Bengaluru TorpedoesBengaluru, Karnataka Ranjit Singh K R Lakshminarayana Kyle Friend Noah TaitanoLimitless Human Performance2022 Calicut HeroesKozhikode, Kerala Jerome Vinith Kishor Kumar David Lee Aaron KoubiBeacon Sports2022 Chennai BlitzChennai, Tamil Nadu Mohan Ukkrapandian Chander Singh Bruno Da Silva Amorim Fernando David GonzalezSPP Group2022 Delhi Toofans New Delhi, Delhi Saqlain Tariq Manoj Nair Carlos Berrios Jesus Chourio Sanghi Group 2024 Goa Guardians Panaji, Goa Chirag Yadav Jothish Jeffrey Menzel Nathaniel Dickinson Chekuri Sports Ventures 2025 Hyderabad Black HawksHyderabad, Telangana Vipul Kumar Ruben Wolochin Henry Bell Cisnero Luis Antonio AriasGlobalArena6 Sports2022 Kochi Blue SpikersKochi, Kerala Karthik Dr. M. H. Kumara Colton Cowell Cody CaldwellM Liga Sports2022Mumbai MeteorsMumbai, Maharashtra Amit Gulia Abhijit Bhattacharya Hiroshi Centelles Brandon GreenwayMeteor Sports2023 Kolkata ThunderboltsKolkata, West Bengal Ashwal Rai Sunny Joseph Matthew August Ian Woo Satterfield Kolkata Sports Ventures2022
Format Each team will have 12 players with the provision of a maximum of two reserve players. All teams have a salary purse of lakhs from which they can pick their team via an auction and player draft. Each team can pick maximum of two International players for to lakhs while the Indian players are chosen via an auction from the remaining money. The auction was taken place in Kochi on 14 December 2021. Players were divided into five categories with different base prices set for each category – International, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and U-21 players.
There are a total of 24 matches with each team playing against each other in a single round-robin format with the top 4 teams moving into the Play-Offs. The first edition was earlier scheduled to be held in Kochi but later moved to Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
Editions and results SeasonFinalFinal venueNo. ofteamsRef.WinnerScoreRunner-up2022DetailsKolkata Thunderbolts3–0Ahmedabad DefendersGachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad7 2023Details Ahmedabad Defenders3–2Bengaluru TorpedoesRajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi82024DetailsCalicut Heroes3–1Delhi ToofansJawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai92025DetailsBengaluru Torpedoes3–0Mumbai MeteorsGachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad10
Performance by teams +TeamWinnersRunners-upPlayoffsYears wonYears runner-upYears PlayoffsNo. of seasons playedAhmedabad Defenders114202320222022, 2023, 2024, 20254Kolkata Thunderbolts1022022—2022, 20234Calicut Heroes1032024—2022, 2023, 20244Bengaluru Torpedoes113202520232023, 2024, 20254Chennai Blitz000———4Hyderabad Black Hawks001——20224Kochi Blue Spikers000———4Mumbai Meteors011—202520253Delhi Toofans011—202420242Goa Guardians001——20251
Viewership TV viewership increased by a staggering 55%, with a colossal 206 million people tuning in to watch the matches throughout the second season.The PVL also drew equal interest from female audiences with the gender ratio between male and female TV viewers being 58:42.
See also Sports in India Indian Volley League Pro Volleyball League
References
External links Official website Volleybox