The Pakistan Super League (PSL) has expanded to eight teams for its upcoming 11th edition after Hyderabad and Sialkot were confirmed as the seventh and eighth franchises, following the conclusion of the league’s expansion auction.
FKS Group, led by Fawad Sarwar, secured the Hyderabad franchise with a bid of Rs1.75 billion, becoming one of the two successful bidders in Thursday’s auction. FKS Group is a South‑East Asian holding company with core operations in food, agriculture, infrastructure, property development, and now sports. It manages a network of subsidiaries engaged in the sourcing, manufacturing, refining and distribution of agricultural commodities, including food and feed products, and provides logistics and supply‑chain services across multiple markets.
In the same process, OZ Developers won the Sialkot franchise with a bid of Rs 1.85 billion, marking Sialkot as the eighth team in the PSL lineup. OZ Developers, a well-established real estate and infrastructure company, has been involved in numerous large-scale development projects. The company’s successful bid for the Sialkot franchise marks its entry into the sports and entertainment sector, as it looks to leverage its extensive expertise in urban development to enhance the PSL’s brand and market presence.
Under PSL rules, the winning bidders were entitled to choose a city from a PCB‑approved list that included Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Sialkot, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit. This list was part of the franchise structure designed to broaden the geographical footprint of the league.
With the addition of Hyderabad and Sialkot, the PSL moves from six teams to eight, representing the first multi‑team expansion since the inclusion of Multan Sultans in the third season. The 11th edition is scheduled to run from March 26 to May 3, 2026.
Nine bidders competed for the two franchise spots after Tareen Group withdrew shortly before the auction. The pool of shortlisted bidders included OZ Developers, Aim Next Inc., Deharki Sugar Mills, Inverex, i2c, Jazz, Prism Developers, VGO Tel and Walee Technologies.
