Highlights :
- The teams considered as the best would be East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, having 16 wins each.
- Sir Henry Durand started Durand Cup by involving British Indian troops in sports and competitive events.
- This year’s Durand Cup (130th) is jointly hosted by the Government of West Bengal and the Army Eastern Command in Calcutta.
The History Of Durand Cup
The tournament was started around 1888 by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, an Indian Civil Servant and the Foreign Secretary of India. The modern-day Durand Line separating Afghanistan and Pakistan is named after him as well. Sir Henry Durand started the Durand Cup by involving British Indian troops in sports and competitive events. This was first organized in Shimla, which was then used as a backup place. Here, while Sir Henry Durand was recovering from his illness, he realized the value of physical health, thus making this tournament official.
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The tournaments became very famous as many army regiments and military units got interested in this tournament and started participating, thus making this an inter-regiment tournament. At first, this tournament only focused on hockey as that was the hit sport of that time, but ever since football came into the scene, it started being included.
The Durand Cup became so famous, especially the finale, that people from all around the subcontinent would come over to see the winner of the cup.
It was highly publicized due to the rare event of the Indian soldiers defeating their English opponents.
After world war 2, with an elongated list of cancellations and retrials due to post-war problems, it was difficult to set a date. A new life was given to Indian football, thus changing the way people viewed this sport, along with the birth of many gems like Mohammedan, Salgaocar, East Bengal, and all the other legendary I-League teams that have since dominated the matches.
Teams That Made Their Name
The teams that fall in these categories would be East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, having 16 wins each. BSF takes third place. These three teams are stated to be the game-changers. At the same time, there were many English teams that made a name for themselves as well, such as Highland Light Infantry, York and Lancaster Regiment, and Sherwood Foresters.
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The Current Status Of The Durand Cup
This year’s Durand Cup (130th) is jointly hosted by the Government of West Bengal and the Army Eastern Command in Calcutta, with Gokulam Kerala keeping a clear-cut aim to be the defending champions.
The Historical Moment
After the defeat of Mariners FC in the first post-independence final, Hyderabad city police, with the guidance of Syed Abdul Rahim, guided them to the Melbourne Olympics.
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