Five ISL franchises and three I-League teams will be among the 16 teams competing for the prestigious Durand Cup football event, which will be held in and around Kolkata from September 5 to October 3, 2021. After moving from its long-time host of Delhi, the event, presently in its 130th edition, was last contested in the Mecca of Indian football in 2019.
The World’s third oldest and Asia’s oldest football competition, which is traditionally staged by the Indian Army on behalf of our Armed Forces, will be co-hosted this year by the Government of West Bengal and the Indian Army. The West Bengal government has been a tremendous help in every facet of the organization.
Kerala Blasters, Jamshedpur FC, and Hyderabad FC are the other clubs from India’s top-level and top ISL franchises FC Goa and Bengaluru FC.
The century-old Mohammedan Sporting of Kolkata, who won the Cup for the first time in India in 1940, will be leading a trio of I-League challengers that includes defending champions Gokulam Kerala and Sudeva FC of Delhi.
India will be represented at the second-tier level by FC Bengaluru United and Delhi FC, with two Indian Army teams (Red and Green), an Air Force and Navy team, the CRPF, and the Assam Rifles rounding out the field of 16
The 130th Durand Cup will be held in the Mohun Bagan Club Ground in Kolkata and the Kalyani Municipal StadiumGround and the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), which has been hosting national level football games for the past couple of years.
The Durand Cup is unique in that it awards three trophies to the winners: two rolling prizes (the Durand Cup and the Shimla Trophy) and the President’s Cup, which is kept permanently. The Durand Cup, Asia’s oldest and third-oldest football tournament, will be held for the 130th time in 2021. The Durand Cup was founded in 1888 and is Asia’s oldest and third-oldest football event.
