Nepal Premier League (NPL) hosted a mini-auction on Saturday to finalise squads for the second edition of the tournament set to begin in November and December later this year.
A total of 150 players were shortlisted for the NPL 2025 mini-auction.
While 51 players were retained from the previous season, 32 names were added during the auction for the eight-team tournament.
Defending champions Janakpur Bolts, Karnali Yaks and Pokhara Avengers retained seven players each — full retention. The remaining five teams — Kathmandu Gorkhas, Biratnagar Kings, Chitwan Rhinos, Sudurpaschim Royals, and Lumbini Lions — retained six players.
The auction divided players into the three categories: A, B, and C. For A category players, the base price ranged between NPR 10-15 lakh; B category players ranged between NPR 5-10 lakh; C category players were between NPR 2-5 lakh.
Each franchise can have 16 players with a maximum of four overseas allowed, who will be picked outside of auction.
Here are the squads after the NPL 2025 mini-auction:
Janakpur Bolts
Retained: Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sah, Subash Khakurel, Kishore Mahato, Lalit Rajbanshi, Tul Bahadur Thapa Magar, Rupesh Singh
Bought at auction: Sachin Bhatt, Aditya Mehta, Mayan Yadav, Bikash Agri
Sudurpaschim Royals
Retained players: Dipendra Singh Airee, Binod Bhandari, Aarif Sheikh, Avinash Bohara, Ishan Pandey, Naren Saud
Bought at auction: Hemant Dhami, Tek Bahadur Rawat, Dipesh Thapa, Dipak Bohara, Milan Bohara
Karnali Yaks
Retained players: Sompal Kami, Gulshan Jha, Nandan Yadav, Arjun Gharti, Dipendra Rawat, Bipin Prasad Sharma, and Unish Bikram Singh Thakuri
Bought at auction: Pawan Sarraf, Imran Sheikh, Deepak Dumre, Yuvraj Khatri
Chitwan Rhinos
Retained players: Kushal Malla, Rijan Dhakal, Kamal Singh Airee, Deepak Bohara, Amar Singh Routela, Gautam KC
Bought at auction: Dev Khanal, Arjun Saud, Bipin Rawal, Bipin Acharya, Ranjit Kumar
Kathmandu Gorkhas
Retained players: Karan KC, Bhim Sharki, Dipesh Kandel, Shahab Alam, Pratik Shrestha, Rashid Khan
Bought at auction: Uttam Thapa Magar, Tul Bahadur Thapa, Santosh Yadav, Akash Tripathi, Adil Alam
Biratnagar Kings
Retained players: Sandeep Lamichhane, Lokesh Bam, Pratish GC, Basir Ahmed, Naren Bhatt, Subash Bhandari
Bought at auction: Surya Tamang, Sahil Patel, Narayan Joshi, Sharwan Kisku, Shankar Rana
Pokhara Avengers
Retained players: Kushal Bhurtel, Dinesh Kharel, Bipin Khatri, Sagar Dhakal, Kiran Thagunna, Akash Chand, Tritraj Das
Bought at auction: Abhishek Tiwari, Arjun Kumal, Krishna Paudel, Sandeep Khatri Chhetri
