Players from the Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain and Argentina would be seen in action during the second edition of the Premier Hockey League scheduled for early next year.
The foreign professionals have been slotted to create five balanced teams in Tier I, Indian Hockey Federation secretary K Jothikumaran said on Wednesday.
"The foreign players have been allotted in such a manner that all the five teams achieve that critical balance," he said announcing the Tier I teams for the tournament.
The overseas players include seven from Pakistan, two from Spain and one each from the Netherlands and Argentina.
However, negotiations were on to rope in some more foreign players, organisers said.
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Last year in Hyderabad, 13 foreigners, including ace drag flicker Sohail Abbas of Pakistan, had turned out for the inaugural edition.
The second edition of the League, to be played in January in Chandigarh, will see several innovations in the rules, introduction of the third umpire being one of them.
Tournament director Maurits Hendriks said video replays would be a shot in the arm for the sport.
"It has been debated since a long time and I am glad to note that PHL has once again come forward to face the challenge," Hendriks said.
Hendriks said the proposal of introducing the third umpire was lying with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for a long time and after the experimentation in PHL, it might find greater acceptance.
He said the system will be introduced in a subtle manner so that speed is not lost.
"It will be done with a subtle approach. So, it's role will be limited to adjudicating a legitimate goal, whether a penalty stroke can be given and whether a hit going into the D has been legitimately deflected by an attacker," Hendriks said.
The third umpire will be limited to Tier I matches and would come into play only if the field umpires wanted a second opinion.
Hendriks said free hits from within the 25-yard line into the shooting circle could not be taken directly, a move designed to discourage power game and encourage skills.
Also, on the basis of feedback from players, the 60-second time-out has been withdrawn and every team will now get two mandatory time-outs of two minutes each in regulation time, one each in each half.
Silver goal and golden goal have also been introduced in this edition.
Hendriks informed that changing players during extra time would no longer be allowed.
Teams:
Hyderabad Sultans: Dilip Tirkey (capt), Salman Akbar (Pakistan), Jorge Lombi (Argentina), Shakeel Abbasi (Pakistan), Devesh Chauhan (GK), Lazrus Barla, Johnson Ekka, Nitin Kumar, Prabhakar Singh, Amit Srivastava, Sameer Dad, Susan Topno, Vikram Pillay, Veer Singh, Nityanand, MA Aleem, Ajitesh Rai, Devender Pal Singh; Coach: Rajinder Singh Jr; Madhukaran; Manager: G Sathyanarayan; Trainer: Ashok Kumar.
Bangalore Hi-Fliers: Arjun Halappa (capt), Jordi Qunitana (Spain), Rehan Butt (Pakistan), Bharat Chetri (GK), PT Rao (GK), Ajay Kumar Saroha, Bikramjit Singh, VS Vinaya, Ignace Tirkey, Bipin Fernandes, Prabodh Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, Tushar Khandekar, Sandeep Michael, Hari Prasad, Len Aiyappa, Suresh Kumar, Sabu Varkey; Coach: Ramesh Parameshwaran; Asst coach: Ashish Balal, Manager: K Krishnamurthy; Trainer: CS Poonacha.
Sher-e-Jalandhar: Gagan Ajit Singh (capt), Mohammad Saqlain (Pakistan), Pau Quemada (Spain), Maninder Singh (GK), Swinder Singh (GK), Harpal Singh, Harmik Singh, Balwant Singh, Kanwalpreet Singh, Baljit Singh Saini, Ajmer Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Prabhjot Singh, Parminder Singh, Daljit Singh Dhillon, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Prabhdeep Singh, Coach: Ramandeep Singh, Sanjeev Kumar; Manager: Surinder Singh Sodhi; Physio: Jagdeep Gill.
Maratha Warriors: Viren Rasquinha (capt), Adnan Zakir (Pakistan), Imran Warsi (Pakistan), Adrian D'Souza (GK), Suraj Kantha (GK), William Xalxo, Sunil Yadav, Gursevak Singh, Vivek Gupta, Dhanraj Pillay, Shivendra Singh, Vijay Alphonso, Heman Gethe, Nitin Kumar, Girish Pimple, Bharat Kumar, Dhananjay Mahadik, Sai Ram Bishnoi, Coach: Clarence Lobo, Asst coach: Mukul Pandey; Manager: SS Walia; Trainer: Harvinder Singh Cheema.
Chandigarh Dynamos: Rajpal Singh (Capt), Balder Bomans (Netherlands), Dilawar Hussain (Pakistan), Kamaldip Singh (GK), Baljit Singh (GK), Jugraj Singh, Sandeep Singh (Sr), Saurabh Bishnoi, SS Gill, Jaswinder Singh, Sandeep Singh (Jr), Gaurav Tokhi, Inderjit Chaddha, Deepak Thakur, Ravipal Singh, Tejbir Singh, Davinder Kumar; Coach: NS Sodhi, Manager: Sardar Amarjit Singh, Asst Manager: Servesh Sharma; Trainer: Baldev Singh.
