The Archery Premier League, a brand-new professional sports franchise launched in India on Friday 19 September, with the first matches of the 2025 season scheduled to be held in October.
Organised by Indian archery federation, the national governing body, it is the first franchise-based archery league in the world.
Almost a decade in development, it brings together 36 Indian archers and 12 leading internationals, distributed among six teams. For the opening season, players were selected through a draft system familiar to American sports franchises.
Each squad consists of eight athletes – four men and four women – with the option of signing up to two overseas players. At least one overseas archer must feature in the main playing lineup. Matches will be held in mixed recurve and compound events, outdoors at 70 metres and 50 metres under floodlights.
The round-robin stage schedules three matches per day, each lasting 20 minutes, and the shooting time per arrow is capped at 15 seconds, rather than the normal 20 seconds.
The twelve international archers involved in the first edition are Mathias Fullerton, Katharina Bauer, Brady Ellison, Meeri-Marita Paas, Nico Wiener, Elia Canales, Mike Schloesser, Alejandra Valencia, Matias Grande, Andrea Becerra, Mete Gazoz and Ella Gibson.
They will join a list of Indian archers including Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Parneet Kaur, Rishabh Yadav, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara, Abhishek Verma, Ankita Bhakat, Ojas Pravin Deotale and many more.
Six teams were introduced and drafted: Prithviraaj Yodhas, Kakatiya Knights, Mighty Marathas, Rajputana Royals, Chero Archers and Chola Chiefs, each based in a different Indian state. Celebrity actor Ram Charan was unveiled as the league’s brand ambassador.
The first matches are scheduled to be held from 2-12 October 2025 at the Yamuna Sports Complex in New Delhi. Details about international broadcasting will follow soon.
