Durand Cup is the Asia’s oldest Football Tournament and the 131st iteration of this completion will be held this year from the 16th of August to the 18th of September.
Started back in the days of the British Empire, the first edition of the Durand Cup was hosted in Shimla in 1888. The main aim of this competition was to boast the morale and health of the British army soldiers posted in India. Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, the foreign secretary to British India was the person who stated this tournament. Created keeping the soldiers of the British in mind, best of the Indian football teams now compete in this tournament. Private teams, clubs and even teams from defense services play once a year for this prize.
From its inception till today, this competition has been cancelled only a few number of times. It did not take place from 1914 to 1919 because of the First World War. Again in 1939 and from 1941 to 1949 for the Second World War and Partition caused its cancellation. It was cancelled in 1962 for the Indo-China war and 2020 for COVID-19. These were the only times Durand Cup was cancelled, thus making it one of the longest running sports competitions of the world.
Another curious factor about this tournament is that it has not one, but three trophies for the winning team. The original Durand Cup Trophy is a rolling trophy passing from one champion team to the next. The second trophy is called the Shimla Trophy, given that it was first presented by the citizens of the city from 1903, and it became a rolling trophy from 1965. The third is called the President’s Cup and was given by the first president of India.
Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have a tie on 16 matches for the highest number of wins of this tournament. And the FC Goa is the current holder of this trophy.
