2021 Durand Cup

The 2021 Durand Cup was the 130th edition of Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia. Like its previous edition, the tournament was hosted in West Bengal.^[1] The tournament is jointly hosted by the Eastern Command of the Indian Armed Forces and the Government of West Bengal.^[2]

2021 Durand Cup

Tournament poster
Tournament details
Country	India
Venue(s)	West Bengal
Dates	5 September 2021 – 3 October 2021
Teams	16
Final positions
Champions	FC Goa (1st title)
Runners-up	Mohammedan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	29
Goals scored	105 (3.62 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Devendra Murgaonkar Marcus Joseph (5 goals each)
Awards
Best goalkeeper	Naveen Kumar (165 mins per goal)
← 2019 2022 →

The Durand Cup was cancelled in 2020 due to worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and was reorganised in 2021 after a year gap.^[3] Gokulam Kerala were the defending champions, having defeated Mohun Bagan in the 2019 final.^[4][5]

Mohammedan made their first Durand Cup final appearance since 2013 against debutants FC Goa.^[6] The match went into the extra time with no goal from either side. Goan captain Edu Bedia's 105th minute solitary goal sealed Goa's victory against Mohammedan.^[7] Goa became the fourth Goan team to win the Durand Cup after Salgaocar, Dempo and Churchill Brothers.

Teams

A total of 16 teams participated in the competition; 5 clubs from Indian Super League, 3 clubs from I-League, 2 clubs from I-League 2nd Division and 6 teams representing the Indian Armed Forces.

Jamshedpur

Hyderabad

Gokulam Kerala

Kerala
Blasters

Armed Forces teams:
Army Green
Army Red
Assam Rifles
CRPF
Indian
Air Force
Indian Navy

Mohammedan

Goa

Bengaluru

Bengaluru teams:
Bengaluru
Bengaluru
United

Delhi

Delhi teams:
Delhi
Sudeva Delhi

Location of the 2021 Durand Cup teams.
Indian Super League club
I-League club
I-League 2nd Division club
Indian Armed Forces team

Team	Head coach	Captain	Location
Indian Super League clubs
Bengaluru[8]	Naushad Moosa	Ajith Kumar	Bengaluru, Karnataka
Goa[8]	Juan Ferrando	Edu Bedia	Porvorim, Goa
Hyderabad[8]	Shameel Chembakath	Pritam Kumar Singh	Hyderabad, Telangana
Jamshedpur[8]	Noel Wilson	Jitendra Singh	Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
Kerala Blasters[8]	Ivan Vukomanović	Jessel Carneiro	Kochi, Kerala
I-League clubs
Gokulam Kerala[9]	Vincenzo Alberto Annese	Sharif Mukhammad	Calicut, Kerala
Mohammedan[10]	Andrey Chernyshov	Nikola Stojanović	Kolkata, West Bengal
Sudeva Delhi[11]	Chencho Dorji	Sairuat Kima	New Delhi, Delhi
I-League 2nd Division clubs
Bengaluru United[11]	Richard Reginald Hood	Dharmaraj Ravanan	Bengaluru, Karnataka
Delhi[11]	Yan Law	Anwar Ali	Dwarka, Delhi
Indian Armed Force teams
Assam Rifles[12]	Ningombam Jiten Singh	Jefferson Nongrud	—
Army Green[12]	Mileswamy Govindaraju Ramachandran	Roel Lepcha
Army Red[12]	Anustup Sarkar	Nongmaikapam Suresh Meitei	Kolkata, West Bengal
Indian Air Force[12]	Priya Darshan	Vivek Kumar	New Delhi, Delhi
Indian Navy[12]	Abhilash Vasantha Nair	Bhaskar Roy	—
Central Reserve Police Force[12]	Dayal Singh Bhati	Moses Antony	Jalandhar, Punjab

Mohun Bagan and East Bengal were invited to be part of the tournament but most of the first team players of Mohun Bagan were on international break and also had their AFC Cup knockouts coinciding with the Durand Cup fixtures, thus they backed out from the tournament, while East Bengal refused participation because of investor issues. Since this year India celebrates golden jubilee of its victory over Pakistan for the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, DFTS invited Mohammedan SC and Sk. Jamal Dhanmondi Club from Bangladesh to participate in the 130th edition of the tournament. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, the clubs were unable to confirm their participation.^[13]

Prize money

Position	Prize money
Champions	₹4 million (equivalent to ₹4.5 million or US$53,000 in 2023)[14]
Runners-up	₹2 million (equivalent to ₹2.2 million or US$27,000 in 2023)[14]
Semi-finalists	₹0.5 million (equivalent to ₹560,000 or US$6,600 in 2023)[14]
Season awardees	₹0.1 million (equivalent to ₹110,000 or US$1,300 in 2023)[15]
Total	~₹7.3 million (US$86,000)

Official sponsors and partners

Co-sponsors Coal India State Bank of India ITC SERVO IndianOil Associate sponsors GAIL Kalyani Group Pramerica Life Insurance JIS Group

Supported by GRSE Adani Defence & Aerospace Tata Advanced Systems TABLT Pharmacy Gloster Hindustan Aeronautics Tournament partner IFA W.B. Cherry Tree

Streaming and radio partner Addatimes SonyLIV (only semifinals and final) 91.9 Friends FM

Source: Durand Cup

Venues

Kalyani	Kolkata
Kalyani Stadium	Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan	Mohun Bagan Ground
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 85,000	Capacity: 20,000
No. of matches: 9	No. of matches: 14	No. of matches: 6

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bengaluru United	3	3	0	0	7	2	+5	9	Knockout stage
2	Mohammedan	3	2	0	1	9	4	+5	6
3	Indian Air Force	3	0	1	2	3	8	−5	1
4	CRPF	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots

Matches

Indian Air Force v Mohammedan

5 September 2021 (2021-09-05) 1	Indian Air Force	1–4	Mohammedan	Kolkata
16.15 IST	Jerone  40' Sadhukan 47' Singh  51' Danish  53'	Report	Ongnam 19' Singh 31' Mallick 45' Rahaman  47' Joseph 77' Vanlalremdika  85'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Nikola Stojanović (Mohammedan SC)

CRPF v Bengaluru United

6 September 2021 (2021-09-06) 2	CRPF	0–1	Bengaluru United	Kalyani
15.00 IST	Antony  71'	Report	Manzi 62' Manzi  90+3'	Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Pedro Manzi (FC Bengaluru United)

Indian Air Force v Bengaluru United

9 September 2021 (2021-09-09) 3	Indian Air Force	2–4	Bengaluru United	Kalyani
15.00 IST	Kumar 42', 51' P Singh  46' D Singh  62' Das  84'	Report	Manzi 22' (pen.), 90+1' Singh 28', 72' Ravanan  47'	Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Yumnam Singh (FC Bengaluru United)

CRPF v Mohammedan

10 September 2021 (2021-09-10) 4	CRPF	1–5	Mohammedan	Kalyani
15.00 IST	AA Singh  45' A Singh 89'	Report	Mallick 13', 87' Joseph 65', 66' Vanlalremdika  90+2'	Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Azharuddin Mallick (Mohammedan SC)

Mohammedan v Bengaluru United

14 September 2021 (2021-09-14) 5	Mohammedan	0–2	Bengaluru United	Kalyani
15.00 IST	Vaz  90+4'	Report	Kumar  41' Singh 64' Majcen 90+5' (pen.) Majcen  90+5'	Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Kunzang Bhutia (FC Bengaluru United)

CRPF v Indian Air Force

14 September 2021 (2021-09-14) 6	CRPF	Cancelled	Indian Air Force	Kolkata
15.00 IST		Report		Stadium: Mohun Bagan Ground Attendance: 0[a][Note *]
Note: The match was abandoned due to heavy rainfall and waterlogging, resulting in pitch being unfit for play. Both teams were awarded a point each.[16]

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Goa	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	9	Knockout stage
2	Army Green	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
3	Jamshedpur	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
4	Sudeva Delhi	3	0	0	3	1	4	−3	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots

Matches

Jamshedpur v Sudeva Delhi

6 September 2021 (2021-09-06) 1	Jamshedpur	1–0	Sudeva Delhi	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Lalruatmawia 33' J Singh  45+1' P Singh  86' Yadav  88'	Report	Singh  90+3'	Stadium: Mohun Bagan Ground Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Vishal Yadav (Jamshedpur FC)

Goa v Army Green

7 September 2021 (2021-09-07) 2	Goa	2–0	Army Green	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Noguera 35' Murgaonkar 59'	Report		Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Sarath Narayanan M (Army Green)

Jamshedpur v Army Green

10 September 2021 (2021-09-10) 3	Jamshedpur	1–3	Army Green	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Singh  32' Meitei  55' J Singh 61' (pen.)	Report	Singh 43', 48' Singh  89' Chhetri 58'	Stadium: Mohun Bagan Ground Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Deepak Singh (Army Green)

Goa v Sudeva Delhi

13 September 2021 (2021-09-13) 4	Goa	2–1	Sudeva Delhi	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Nemil 45+2' Fernandes  46' Ortiz 80'	Report	Kima  18' Vanlalzuidika  33' Khan  80' Pauliankhum 90+8' (pen.)	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Seriton Fernandes (FC Goa)

Jamshedpur v Goa

17 September 2021 (2021-09-17) 5	Jamshedpur	0–5	Goa	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Singh  41'	Report	Murgaonkar 20', 44' Rebello 26' Nemil 46', 81' D'Cunha  60' Davis  65'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Muhammed Nemil (FC Goa)

Army Green v Sudeva Delhi

17 September 2021 (2021-09-17) 6	Army Green	1–0	Sudeva Delhi	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Lallawmkima  34' Rana  42' Singh 51'	Report	Kima  54' Kharpan  88'	Stadium: Mohun Bagan Ground Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Deepak Singh (Army Green)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bengaluru	3	2	1	0	9	5	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	Delhi	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Kerala Blasters	3	1	0	2	1	3	−2	3
4	Indian Navy	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3

Source: Khel Now
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots

Matches

Delhi v Indian Navy

8 September 2021 (2021-09-08) 1	Delhi	1–2	Indian Navy	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Plaza 21' Ceesay  41'	Report	Sreyas VG 26' Singh 86'	Stadium: Mohun Bagan Ground Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Dalraj Singh (Indian Navy)

Kerala Blasters v Indian Navy

11 September 2021 (2021-09-11) 2	Kerala Blasters	1–0	Indian Navy	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Luna 71' (pen.) Khabra  84'	Report	S Singh  53' D Singh  69'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Adrian Luna (Kerala Blasters)

Bengaluru v Kerala Blasters

15 September 2021 (2021-09-15) 3	Bengaluru	2–0	Kerala Blasters	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Shrivas  38' Bhutia 45' Augustine 70'	Report	Soraisham  41'  83' Hormipam  48'  64' Meitei  84'  86'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Lara Sharma (Bengaluru FC)

Delhi v Bengaluru

18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) 4	Delhi	2–2	Bengaluru	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Plaza 58', 62'	Report	Narayanan 27' Chhetri  65' Singh 75'	Stadium: Mohun Bagan Ground Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Willis Plaza (Delhi FC)

Bengaluru v Indian Navy

21 September 2021 (2021-09-21) 5	Bengaluru	5–3	Indian Navy	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Augustine 53' H Singh 61', 81' Chhetri 73' (pen.) T Singh 90+2'	Report	Jijo F 19' Sreyas VG 30' Inayath  49' Vijay J 90+4'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Harmanpreet Singh (Bengaluru FC)

Delhi v Kerala Blasters

21 September 2021 (2021-09-21) 6	Delhi	1–0	Kerala Blasters	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Plaza 53'	Report	Sipovic  38'	Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Anwar Ali (Delhi FC)

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Gokulam Kerala	3	2	1	0	10	4	+6	7	Knockout stage
2	Army Red	3	2	1	0	8	4	+4	7
3	Hyderabad	3	1	0	2	6	3	+3	3
4	Assam Rifles	3	0	0	3	3	16	−13	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) goal difference; 5) number of goals scored; 6) drawing of lots

Matches

Army Red v Assam Rifles

9 September 2021 (2021-09-09) 1	Army Red	4–1	Assam Rifles	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Shil 39' Thapa 66' Shah 75' (pen.) Meitei 82'		Rabha 41' T Singh  74' D Singh  80' Narjinari  90+4'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Bikash Thapa (Army Red)

Assam Rifles v Hyderabad

12 September 2021 (2021-09-12) 2	Assam Rifles	0–5	Hyderabad	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Haokip  75'		Rabeeh 7' Chhangte 18', 89' Rohlupia 21' Kumar 27'	Stadium: Mohun Bagan Ground Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Lalchungnunga Chhangte (Hyderabad FC)

Gokulam Kerala v Army Red

12 September 2021 (2021-09-12) 3	Gokulam Kerala	2–2	Army Red	Kalyani
15.00 IST	Osumanu 8' Mukhammad 68' (pen.)	Report	Jain P 30' Thapa 43' Kumar  45' Shafeel  73'	Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Christopher Kamei (Army Red)

Gokulam Kerala v Hyderabad

16 September 2021 (2021-09-16) 4	Gokulam Kerala	1–0	Hyderabad	Kalyani
15.00 IST	Osumanu 46' Benny  10'  48' Mukhammad  57' Rishad P  90+2'	Report		Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Sharif Mukhammad (Gokulam Kerala FC)

Army Red v Hyderabad

19 September 2021 (2021-09-19) 5	Army Red	2–1	Hyderabad	Kolkata
15.00 IST	Zothanpuia  18' Meitei  32' Shil 33', 70' Kumar  59'	Report	Dutta 35'	Stadium: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Liton Shil (Army Red)

Assam Rifles v Gokulam Kerala

19 September 2021 (2021-09-19) 6	Assam Rifles	2–7	Gokulam Kerala	Kalyani
15.00 IST	Singh 36' Rishad P  38' Haokip  54' D Singh  58' Rabha 63'	Report	Chikatara 1', 52', 72' Baretto 2', 45+2' Osumanu 34' Sourav 60' Saji  62'	Stadium: Kalyani Stadium Attendance: 0[a][Note *] Man of the Match: Chisom Chikatara (Gokulam Kerala)

Knockout stage

Main article: 2021 Durand Cup knockout stage

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Mohammedan	1
	Gokulam Kerala	0
					Mohammedan (a.e.t.)	4
					Bengaluru United	2
	Army Red	-
	Bengaluru United (w.o.)	-
									Mohammedan	0
									Goa (a.e.t.)	1
	Goa	5
	Delhi	1
					Goa (p)	2(7)
					Bengaluru	2(6)
	Bengaluru	3
	Army Green	2

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Mohammedan	1–0	Gokulam Kerala
Army Red	w/o[b]	Bengaluru United
Goa	5–1	Delhi
Bengaluru	3–2	Army Green

Semi-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Mohammedan	4–2 (a.e.t)	Bengaluru United
Goa	2–2 (7-6 pen.)	Bengaluru

Final

Main article: 2021 Durand Cup final

2021 Durand Cup Final

3 October 2021 (2021-10-03)

18:00 IST

Mohammedan	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Goa
	Report	Bedia 105'

Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata, West Bengal

Attendance: 43,292

Referee: Rahul Kumar Gupta

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 3 October 2021

Note: Only top goal scorers with 3 or more goals are mentioned.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Devendra Murgaonkar	Goa	5
	Marcus Joseph	Mohammedan
3	Muhammed Nemil	Goa	4
	Pedro Manzi	Bengaluru United
	Willis Plaza	Delhi
6	Azharuddin Mallick	Mohammedan	3
	Chisom Chikatara	Gokulam Kerala
	Deepak Singh	Army Green
	Leon Augustine	Bengaluru
	Liton Shil	Army Red
	Rahim Osumanu	Gokulam Kerala
	Sivasakthi Narayanan	Bengaluru

Hatricks

Note: Player's team score mentioned first

Player	Club	Against	Result	Date
Chisom Chikatara	Gokulam Kerala	Assam Rifles	7–2	19 September 2021

Most clean sheets

As of 3 October 2021

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Kunzang Bhutia	Bengaluru United	2
	Naveen Kumar	Goa
2	Ajmal PA	Gokulam Kerala	1
	Albino Gomes	Kerala Blasters
	Hrithik Tiwari	Goa
	Lalbiakhlua Jongte	Hyderabad
	Lara Sharma	Bengaluru
	Lovepreet Singh	Delhi
	Roluahpuia	Army Green
	Vishal Yadav	Jamshedpur
	Zothanmawia	Mohammedan

Season awards

Golden glove for best goalkeeper

• Naveen Kumar (Goa)

Golden boot for top scorer

• Marcus Joseph (Mohammedan)

Golden ball for best player

• Edu Bedia (Goa)

See also

• Indian Super League
• I-League
• I-League 2nd Division
• Super Cup
• IFA Shield

Notes

1. ^
   Attendance: Due to the presumed emergence of third wave of COVID-19 outbreak, only 50% of attendance at most would be allowed in the stadiums by Government of West Bengal. But, the Durand Football Tournament Society decided to first allow negligible or no attendance, and then gradually towards the end of the tournament, allow up to 50% of attendance in compliance with government norms if everything went well.^[18]

1. Match was played behind closed doors.
2. Army Red withdrew from their Durand Cup quarter final fixture against FC Bengaluru United after reports of positive COVID-19 cases were discovered within the squad.^[17]