Pro Kabaddi League 2026 (PKL Season 13): Auction, Start Date, Teams & Latest Updates

Updated 15 October 2026 · Season status: pre-season (auction and fixtures not yet officially announced)

The Pro Kabaddi League returns for Season 13 with all 12 franchises and Dabang Delhi K.C. defending the title they won at home in October 2025. This hub tracks everything about PKL 2026 in one place: the auction, the expected start date, the teams, the format, where to watch, and links to every detailed PKL page on iSportsLeague.

PKL 2026 Key Dates

“Reported” means the date comes from media sources, not Mashal Sports. We will change these to confirmed dates as soon as the league announces them.

PKL 13 Auction

The Season 13 auction is the next big event on the PKL calendar. Reports place it between 18 and 25 October 2026, but the league has not confirmed a date or venue. For comparison, the Season 12 auction was held on 31 May and 1 June 2025, about three months before that season began.

How PKL squads are built

• Retentions: before the auction, franchises keep players in categories such as Elite Retained Players (ERP), Retained Young Players (RYP) and Existing New Young Players (E-NYP). Players on running multi-year deals stay automatically.
• Final Bid Match (FBM): teams can use FBM cards to match the winning bid for players from their previous squad.
• New Young Players (NYP): franchises sign young talent outside the main auction. Telugu Titans and Tamil Thalaivas have already added NYPs for Season 13.
• Auction pool: domestic and overseas players are grouped into categories with base prices, then sold to the highest bidder.

Expect Iranian stars to draw big bids again after Iran’s strong Asian Games run, along with India’s gold-medal raiders. Full retained, released and sold lists will go on our PKL 13 auction tracker as soon as they are official.

All 12 PKL Teams for Season 13

Titles cover Seasons 1–12. Squads, captains and coaches for Season 13 will be added team by team after the auction.

PKL Season 13 Format & Playoffs

Mashal Sports has not yet published the Season 13 format. Season 12 is the best guide to what to expect:

• League stage: 108 matches, 18 per team, played in a caravan format that moved between host cities (Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Chennai and New Delhi in Season 12).
• No draws: Season 12 introduced a tie-breaker for every league match level at full time, including Golden Raids, so every game produced a winner. A win was worth 2 points.
• Playoffs for the top 8: 5th–8th met in Play-ins, 3rd and 4th entered Mini-qualifiers, and 1st and 2nd met in Qualifier 1, with the winner going straight to the final and the loser getting a second chance in Qualifier 2.
• Prize money (Season 12): ₹3 crore for the champions and ₹1.8 crore for the runners-up.

Host cities for Season 13 have not been announced. See our PKL 2026 schedule page for fixtures as they are released.

Where to Watch PKL 2026 & Match Times

Match start times around the world

Season 12 matches started at 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM IST. If Season 13 keeps that slot, here is what the first match of the night means in other time zones during a December–February season:

Times use winter clocks (GMT in the UK, EST/PST in North America, daylight saving in south-east Australia). Add one hour for the 9:00 PM IST match.

PKL 2026 Storylines to Follow

Can Dabang Delhi go back to back?

Delhi finished level on 26 points with Puneri Paltan at the top of the Season 12 table, beat them in Qualifier 1 via a tie-breaker, then beat them again 31–28 in the final at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium. Captain Ashu Malik, raiders Neeraj Narwal and Ajinkya Pawar, and veteran defenders Fazel Atrachali (Season 12 MVP) and Surjeet Singh formed the core. No team has defended a PKL title since Patna Pirates’ hat-trick in Seasons 3–5.

Puneri Paltan’s unfinished business

Pune topped the league on score difference and reached the final, only to lose twice to Delhi when it mattered. Aditya Shinde’s raiding and a defence built around Gaurav Khatri and Abinesh Nadarajan make them favourites again.

Asian Games gold carries into PKL

India’s men won kabaddi gold in Aichi-Nagoya without losing a match, beating Iran 40–34 in the final. Arjun Deshwal, Devank Dalal, captain Sunil Kumar and Aslam Inamdar were among India’s key players, while Iran’s attack featured PKL regulars Ali Samadi (Jaipur Pink Panthers) and Mohammadreza Shadloui. Expect plenty of rematches on the PKL mat.

Ayan Lohchab and Patna’s rebuild

Patna Pirates’ Ayan Lohchab was Season 12’s top raider with 316 raid points, and teammate Navdeep Singh led all defenders with 73 tackle points. With a new head coach, the three-time champions will look to turn individual numbers into a fourth title.

Tamil Thalaivas and Gujarat Giants under pressure

Both finished in the bottom three in Season 12 and have started rebuilding early, with Thalaivas adding New Young Players and Gujarat changing their coaching staff.

Season 12 Recap & Final League Table

Season 12 ran from 29 August to 31 October 2025 across 117 matches. Dabang Delhi K.C. won their second title, becoming the first team since U Mumba in Season 2 to lift the trophy on home soil.

P = played, W = won, L = lost, SD = score difference, Pts = points (2 per win). Top 8 qualified for the playoffs. The live Season 13 table will run on our PKL points table page.

Season 12 award winners

All Pro Kabaddi League Champions

Team names as used in that season (Gujarat Giants were Gujarat Fortunegiants; Bengal Warriorz were Bengal Warriors). Most titles: Patna Pirates (3), then Jaipur Pink Panthers and Dabang Delhi K.C. (2 each).

More Pro Kabaddi League 2026 Pages

PKL 2026 FAQ