NEW DELHI: Five Indian Super League teams and three I-League outfits will be among the 16 teams that have signed up for the 130th edition of the Durand Cup football tournament, which returns from a COVID-19 induced gap year and will be played in Kolkata at different venues from September 5 to October 3.
The ISL clubs that will participate are: Bengaluru FC, Kerala Blasters FC, Hyderabad FC, FC Goa & Jamshedpur FC. From the I-League, there will be Gokulam Kerala FC (Durand Cup defending champions as well as the reigning I-League and Kerala Premier League champions), Mohammedan Sporting Club & Sudeva Delhi FC. Among the clubs who are currently expected to play in 2nd Division League (I-League Qualifiers) are FC Bengaluru United & Delhi Football Club.
There will be several teams from the armed forces also participating. Namely: Indian Navy, Army Red, Army Green, Assam Rifles, Indian Air Force (The current champions of Delhi) & CRPF FC.
However, neither of the two most successful clubs in the competition’s history – East Bengal & Mohun Bagan – will participate (East Bengal’s investor Shree Cement has pulled out and Mohun Bagan have declined with many of their players being away on national duty and potential conflict with AFC Cup inter-zone semi final).
The groups that the teams will be divided into are as follows:
Group A: Mohammedan Sporting, CRPF FC, FC Bengaluru United, Indian Air Force
Group B: Jamshedpur FC, Sudeva Delhi FC, FC Goa, Army Green
Group C: Delhi FC, Kerala Blasters, Bengaluru FC, Indian Navy
Group D: Gokulam Kerala FC, Hyderabad FC, Army Red, Assam Rifles
The top two teams from each group will progress to the quarter-finals.
The champions will receive a cash prize of Rs 4 million, apart from the three storied trophies (Durand Cup, President’s Cup & Shimla Trophy) that are awarded to the winner. The runners up will receive Rs 2 million, while the semi-finalists will receive Rs 500,000 each.
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