 |
| List of teams for Durand Cup 2021 |
The historical Durand Cup is set to take place this year in Kolkata. It will be the 130th edition of the legacy cup tournament, which is the oldest cup tournament in Asia and 3rd oldest in Football history.
There were many doubts among the fans regarding the teams for the Durand Cup 2021 edition. The Durand Committee today announced the list of 16 teams who will participate in the 2021 Durand Cup to be played from 5th September in Kolkata.
The 2020 season of the Durand Cup was not held due to the global pandemic, the COVID-19, which affected all kind of sports not just in India but throughout the world. Gokulam Kerala is the defending champion, having won the title in 2019 by beating Mohun Bagan.
The Durand Cup this year will have 16 teams in the 2021 season, with 10 teams from various national leagues and 6 teams from Army or Armed Forces.
The 6 Army or Armed Force teams who are set to participate in the Durand Cup 2021 are Army Green FC, Army Red FC, Assam Rifles FC, CRPF, Indian Air Force FC and Indian Navy FC.
The two teams who will be taking part from the I-League 2nd Division, even though as of writing, their participation in the I-League 2nd Division is not confirmed yet, are FC Bengaluru United and Delhi Football Club. FC Bengaluru United coming in as champions of their domestic league while Delhi FC finished runner-up in the Delhi League.
The 3 I-League teams that will participate are defending champions Gokulam Kerala FC, Mohammedan Sporting Club and Sudeva Delhi FC. Gokulam Kerala coming in as both defending champion as well as I-League 2020-2021 champion. Mohammedan Sporting Club finished 6 in the I-League while Sudeva Delhi FC finished 2nd in the relegation group and overall 8th in the I-League.
There are 5 representative from the country's top tier league, the Indian Super League, FC Goa, Bengaluru FC, Kerala Blasters, Jamshedpur FC and Hyderabad FC. Both the Kolkata giants ATK Mohun Bagan and SC East Bengal won't be taking part in the competition.
It is believed that the Indian Super League clubs are likely to field a mix team of both senior team and reserve team players to give them valuable game time and test out their bench strength.
FC Goa is the only team from the 5 ISL teams who reached the playoffs while Hyderabad FC missed out by a small margin. Kerala Blasters FC are looking for a complete rebuild under new head coach Ivan Vukomanovic.
Bengaluru FC, who have a record of consistently performing well in Indian Football, have been struggling from the last season and they will also look to setup a good team for ISL through the Durand Cup.
Durand Cup 2021 Teams:
Army Green FC, Army Red FC, Assam Rifles FC, CRPF, Indian Air Force FC, Indian Navy FC, Delhi FC, FC Bengaluru United, Gokulam Kerala FC, Mohammedan Sporting Club, Sudeva Delhi FC, FC Goa, Bengaluru FC, Hyderabad FC, Jamshedpur FC, Kerala Blasters
0 Comments