Asia's oldest football tournament Durand Cup begins on 16 August

Tags: Sports News

The 131st season of the Durand Cup football tournament will be held in several cities across West Bengal, Assam and Manipur for the first time from August 16, 2022.

Important facts

• This year the tournament has increased from 16 to 20 teams in which apart from 11 ISL clubs, 5 clubs from I-League and 4 teams from Armed Forces will also take part.

• The third oldest football tournament in the world and the oldest in Asia, the Durand Cup was first held in Dagshai (Himachal Pradesh) in the year 1888.

• Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are the most successful teams in the history of Durand Cup having won it sixteen times.

• In the previous edition of the tournament, Goa won their maiden Durand Cup title by defeating Mohammedan Sporting 1–0.

131st Durand Cup

• The tournament will have a total of 47 games, with Guwahati and Imphal hosting 10-10-game matches of both Group C and Group D.

• All the seven knockout games will be held at three venues in West Bengal.

• The inaugural pool matches will begin from 16 August at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) Stadium in Kolkata.

• The matches will be held on August 17 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati and on August 18 at the Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal.

• The tournament will culminate with the Grand Finale to be held at VYBK on 18 September 2022.

Groups of the tournament

• Group A - FC Goa, Mohammedan Sporting, Bengaluru FC, Jamshedpur FC, Indian Air Force

• Group B - ATK Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Mumbai City FC, Rajasthan United, Indian Navy

• Group C - Chennaiyin FC, Hyderabad FC, NEROCA, TRAU, Army Red

• Group D - Kerala Blasters, NorthEast United, Odisha FC, Sudeva Delhi FC, Army Green