126th edition of the Durand Cup to kick off in Delhi

The Ambedkar stadium will play host to this year’s Durand Cup

The third oldest football tournament in the world will be played in Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi from September 2. This will be the official season opener in Indian club football with big teams like Pune F.C, Mohd. Sporting and United Sikkim taking part. The 17 day tournament is divided into two stages and stage I is the qualifying round (knock-out basis) and consists of 12 teams namely :

1) Air Force 2) Youngster Club Chandigarh 3) Assam Regt. Centre 4) CRPF 5) ASC Bangalore 6) Delhi United 7) Garhwal Heroes 8) Indian Navy

The following teams have been given a bye for one round in the qualifiers:

9)BSF 10) Tata Football Academy 11) Kerala Police 12) Assam Rifles

Fixtures for the first round are as follows :

September 2

Match 1 -Air Force vs Youngster Club Chandigarh 13:30 hours

Match 2 -Assam Regt. Centre vs CRPF 15:30 hours

September 3

Match 3 -ASC Bangalore vs Delhi United 13:30 hours

Match 4 -Garhwal Heroes vs Indian Navy 15:30 hours

September 4

Match 5 -Winner of  match no. 2 vs BSF 13:30 hours

Match 6 -Winner of match no.1 vs Tata Football academy 15:30 hours

September 5

Match 7 -Winner of Match 4 vs Kerala Police     13:30 hours

Match 8 -Winner of Match 3 vs Assam Riffles    15:30 hours

September 6

Match 9 – Winner of Match 5 vs Winner of Match 6  15:00 hours

September 7

Match 10 – Winner of Match 7 vs Winner of Match 8  15:00 hours

The second stage will start on 9th September and 10 teams have already been seeded for that - Pune F.C, Kalighat Milan Sangha F.C, Bhawanipore F.C, ONGC, Air India, Mumbai Tiger, Mohammedan Sporting Club, United Sikkim, Army Red and Army Green.

The two winners of stage I will join these ten teams in the stage II for the league cum knock out basis part. The final will be played on 19th September.