The 131st edition of the Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia and the third-oldest in the world, promises something new for the beautiful game in India.
New teams and new venues add to the glamour and prestige of the legacy competition as it stakes the claim to be a bigger part of the Indian football calendar.
Hold your breath & seal your hearts as we come rolling to your city with the spirit that unites us all….The brings to you the official teaser of the theme song that captures the love for the oldest football competition & the zeal to pic.twitter.com/k0xWjlT8qM— Durand Cup (@thedurandcup) August 12, 2022
The upcoming edition of the Durand Cup not only presents the teams with an opportunity to win silverware ahead of the start of the regular season but helps in the way of increasing the number of games for players, which has been the demand of players, coaches and fans alike for quite some time.
Asian Football Confederation had determined that Durand Cup, in the pre-season, and Super Cup, in the postseason, are two competitions that are compliant with their entry manual guidelines which makes it mandatory for clubs to play a minimum of 27 matches over eight months.
This time the Durand Cup will be played across five venues across three states – West Bengal, Assam and Manipur. The 20 teams – all 11 Indian Super League teams, five teams from I-League and four from the Indian armed forces – have been split into four groups of five with six teams enjoying home advantage in the group stage – Mohammedan SC, East Bengal FC and ATK Mohun Bagan in Kolkata, TRAU and NEROCA in Imphal and NorthEast United in Guwahati. Group A and B matches will be played in Kolkata with Group C being held in Manipur and Group D in Guwahati.
Here are the groups and matches-
Alongside the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, which will host the opening and the final on September 18, and Kishore Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata, the Naihati Stadium in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal, the Durand Cup will also be played in Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium and Imphal’s Khuman Lampak stadium.
“We are very happy that 27 out of 47 games of the Durand Cup will be played in Kolkata. Also, that till 2025 at least, the tournament, which is now the number one football tournament in India, will be held in West Bengal," said Aroop Biswas, Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs West Bengal government, at the press conference to launch the tournament in Kolkata on Friday.
“Finally, I would like to say that I am aware of some statistics that the Durand Cup has been won 16 times by Mohun Bagan and East Bengal which is the highest ever by any team. I hope that we will be able to see the 17th victory," he added.
Lt Gen KK Repswal, SM CSM, chief of staff Eastern Command and chairman of the tournament organising committee, asserted that the tournament in the near future can come to accommodate 24 to 28 teams if time permits.
“The Durand Cup is now the second qualifying Cup recognised by the Asian Football Confederation. This will ensure mandatory participation of all the 11 ISL teams which will in turn raise the standard of the football and the Durand Cup even." said Lt. General K.K. Repswal.
Thanking the hosting states nad their chief ministers, Gen Repswal said that: “I believe the Durand Cup has the scope to expand to a 24 or 28 team tournament in future."
A more thing this new is that all the matches, including group and elimination stages, will be televised exclusively on Sports18 and the live streaming of the same will be on Voot.
Read all the Latest Sports News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment