On track to reclaim lost legacy, Durand Cup 2021 promises a grand football revival

Established in 1888, the Durand Cup is Asia’s oldest and the world’s third-oldest football tournament.

The Durand Cup 2021, set to begin from September 5 in Kolkata, marks the heritage tournament’s 130th edition and boasts a roster fit for the occasion.

As many as five Indian Super League (ISL) clubs – Bengaluru FC, Jamshedpur FC, Kerala Blasters FC, Hyderabad FC and FC Goa – will be competing alongside I-League’s Gokulam Kerala FC, Mohammedan Sporting and Sudeva Delhi FC.

Two I-League 2 teams, FC Bengaluru United and Delhi FC, and six teams from the Indian Armed Forces, namely Assam Rifles, Army Green, Army Red, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and Central Reserve Police Force, complete the 16-team list.

Though missing a few big names like ATK Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mumbai City FC, this year’s edition will be one of the most competitive Durand Cup fields in recent memory and may play a key role in bolstering the return of legacy tournaments in Indian football in future.

A rich history yet almost forgotten

Having started only 17 years after the first-ever FA Cup in England, the world’s oldest active football tournament, the Durand Cup has been an integral pillar of Indian football for over a century.

A stage abundant with history, the Durand Cup witnessed some landmark moments such as Mohun Bagan becoming the first civilian club to participate in the army-run competition back in 1925 and Mohammedan Sporting becoming the first civilian club to lift the trophy.

The two Kolkata giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have been the most dominant teams in the competition, winning 16 titles each.

The tournament has also served as the proving ground for some of the legends of Indian football. A teenaged Bhaichung Bhutia, most memorably, announced his arrival in top-tier Indian football with a late bicycle kick winner for East Bengal in the 1993 Durand Cup semi-finals against BSF.

The heritage tournament, however, began slowly losing its sheen from the mid-2000s with big-ticket clubs either not participating or fielding their second-string sides.

With the glitz and glamour of the ISL and, most notably, the Super Cup – designed to take over the Durand Cup’s role as India’s top-tier Cup competition – emerging, the Durand Cup, run by Army personnel, slowly fell from grace.

In fact, from 2015 to 2018 only a low-key 2016 edition was held. Before, the Durand Cup had only been scrapped owing to wars and events of massive political implications (1914-1919 for World War 1, 1939 for World War 2, 1941-1949 due to World War 2 and India’s partition and 1962 due to the Indo-China war).

A grand revival on the cards?

In 2019, finally, there was a trend reversal.

An active attempt was made to try and restore the Durand Cup to its former glory and the tournament lived up to the expectations with Gokulam Kerala FC beating several ISL clubs as well as the two Kolkata giants to the title after a highly entertaining competition in the City of Joy, Kolkata.

After the 2020 edition had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 edition will look to further salvage the Durand Cup’s lost legacy.

The development has come across as welcome news for the Indian football fraternity.

“Durand Cup, because of history, is one of the premier footballing tournaments in India. Owing to unfortunate reasons, the tournament was not hosted for a few years. But now, we have Lt General KK Repswal, the Chief of Staff of the Eastern Command, and his team trying to revive the Durand Cup,” Bengaluru FC CEO Mandar Tamhane told Olympics.com.

“The fact that Lt General Repswal himself is taking so much interest is testimony that this tournament will continue to be a regular fixture of the Indian footballing calendar leading up to the leagues.

“We genuinely hope it continues. Having talked to the organisers, I believe the tournament will grow from strength to strength in the coming years. It will be really good for Indian football to have a historic tournament like the Durand Cup coming back to the level it was in the past,” Mandar Tamhane added.

On how Bengaluru FC is looking forward to the upcoming edition, Mandar Tamhane said, “We’re looking forward to playing in the Durand Cup given its illustrious history. The competition will be a perfect opportunity for us to test out our players and give an opportunity to the young and upcoming ones.

“With a new coach and a relatively new-look team, more and more matches will help the team settle down before the ISL season starts and the Durand Cup matches will be an important part of that.”

Dipendu Biswas, a former India international and currently the football secretary of I-League side Mohammedan Sporting, echoed Tamhane’s sentiments.

Having played in the competition extensively during the 1990s and early 2000s, Biswas also outlined the fairytale component a competition like the Durand Cup, which incorporates teams from various tiers of Indian football, brings.

Dipendu Biswas put forth the example of his own run in the 1995-1996 Durand Cup with Tata Football Academy (TFA). The TFA team, featuring young academy players, reached the final.

“We beat Mohun Bagan in the semi-finals but then lost to East Bengal in tie breakers in the final. These are the stories you can’t emulate anywhere else,” Dipendu Biswas, who later won the title with both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, stated.

While Mohammedan Sporting, who have been on a revival path of their own in the past few years, will be far from the favourites in the Durand Cup 2021, Dipendu Biswas believes the club can pull off an upset.

“It’s Asia’s oldest tournament. Mohammedan Sporting has its own history with the Durand Cup and the upcoming one will be crucial for us as well. We’ll be playing to win the trophy and nothing less,” Biswas said.

For the first phase of Durand Cup 2021, the 16 teams have been divided into four groups and will play each other in a round-robin format.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals. From there on, the tournament will progress in a knockout format with the final scheduled for October 3.