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. The tournament is jointly hosted by the Eastern Command of the Indian Armed Forces and the Government of West Bengal.
The Durand Cup was cancelled in 2020 due to worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and was reorganised in 2021 after a year gap. Gokulam Kerala were the defending champions, having defeated Mohun Bagan in the 2019 final.
Mohammedan made their first Durand Cup final appearance since 2013 against FC Goa. 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. 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.
TeamHead coachCaptainLocation Indian Super League clubsBengaluru Naushad Moosa Ajith KumarBengaluru, KarnatakaGoa Juan Ferrando Edu BediaPorvorim, GoaHyderabad Shameel Chembakath Pritam Kumar SinghHyderabad, TelanganaJamshedpur Noel Wilson Jitendra SinghJamshedpur, JharkhandKerala Blasters Ivan Vukomanović Jessel CarneiroKochi, Kerala I-League clubsGokulam Kerala Vincenzo Alberto Annese Sharif MukhammadCalicut, KeralaMohammedan Andrey Chernyshov Nikola StojanovićKolkata, West Bengal Sudeva Delhi Chencho Dorji Sairuat KimaNew Delhi, Delhi I-League 2nd Division clubsBengaluru United Richard Reginald Hood Dharmaraj RavananBengaluru, KarnatakaDelhi Yan Law Anwar AliDwarka, Delhi Indian Armed Force teamsAssam Rifles Ningombam Jiten Singh Jefferson Nongrud rowspan="2" Army Green Mileswamy Govindaraju Ramachandran Roel LepchaArmy Red Anustup Sarkar Nongmaikapam Suresh MeiteiKolkata, West BengalIndian Air Force Priya Darshan Vivek KumarNew Delhi, DelhiIndian Navy Abhilash Vasantha Nair Bhaskar RoyCRPF FT Dayal Singh Bhati Moses AntonyJalandhar, 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.
Prize money Position Prize money Champions Runners-up Semi-finalists Season awardees Total ~
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 KalyaniKolkataKalyani StadiumVivekananda Yuba Bharati KriranganMohun Bagan GroundCapacity: 20,000Capacity: 85,000Capacity: 20,000No. of matches: 9No. of matches: 14No. of matches: 6
Group stage
Group A
Matches
Group B
Matches
Group C
Matches
Group D
Matches
Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-finals
+Team 1ScoreTeam 2Mohammedan1–0Gokulam KeralaArmy Redw/oBengaluru UnitedGoa5–1DelhiBengaluru3–2Army Green
Semi-finals
+Team 1ScoreTeam 2Mohammedan4–2(a.e.t)Bengaluru UnitedGoa2–2(7–6 pen.)Bengaluru
Final
Statistics
Top scorers
Note: Only top goal scorers with 3 or more goals are mentioned. Rank Player Club Goals1Goa5 Marcus JosephMohammedan3 Muhammed NemilGoa4 Pedro Manzi Willis Plaza Delhi6 Azharuddin MallickMohammedan3 Chisom ChikataraGokulam Kerala Deepak SinghArmy Green Leon AugustineBengaluru Liton ShilArmy Red Rahim OsumanuGokulam Kerala Sivasakthi NarayananBengaluru
Hatricks Note: Player's team score mentioned first +PlayerClubAgainstResultDate Chisom ChikataraGokulam KeralaAssam Rifles7–219 September 2021
Most clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets 1 Kunzang Bhutia 2 Naveen Kumar Goa2 Ajmal PAGokulam Kerala1 Albino GomesKerala Blasters Hrithik TiwariGoaHyderabad Lara SharmaBengaluru Lovepreet SinghDelhi RoluahpuiaArmy Green Vishal Yadav Jamshedpur ZothanmawiaMohammedan
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
References
External links Durand Cup website