How Durand Cup will act as perfect pre-season tournament ahead of ISL, I-League

Most ISL teams consider Durand Cup for pre-season preparations ahead of the main league.

The 2023-24 Indian football season is all set to kick off on 3rd August with the opening game of the Durand Cup. In the 132nd edition of India’s oldest competition, Mohun Bagan Super Giant will host the Bangladesh Army side in a rather historic fixture.

In the upcoming Durand Cup, all eleven Indian Super League (ISL) teams will be playing. Five I-League teams have decided to participate in it, with only one I-League Second Division team featuring. Teams from the Indian Armed Forces’ will also compete, while one regional league team in Assamese side Bodoland FC as well as the Bangladesh and Tribhuvan Army teams will also don their jerseys.

This month-long tournament will be the first piece of silverware that clubs can fight for and also use as a platform to prepare for the upcoming league campaigns. In recent years, the Armed forces have scheduled the Durand Cup to take place just before the ISL or I-League seasons so that it can serve as a sort of ‘pre-season tournament’.

Why teams shouldn’t rest all major players in Durand Cup

A lot of teams take this tournament seriously, fielding their best players – while some teams opt to give their youngsters more chances and protect their senior stars from possible injuries. The tournament, which will be held across six different venues in three cities, is actually tailor-made to serve as a solid pre-season competition for every ISL or I-League team.

When it comes to the ISL sides, not many hold the iconic tournament in that high regard to play all their best players. However, it’d be clever for any of the top division sides to smartly rotate all the players that are expected to feature for them once the ISL campaign begins in September.

The Durand Cup foreigner rules is similar to the one followed in India’s top division – four foreign players can be played by a team during matches. For a lot of ISL sides, this can actually serve as a good competition ground to test their newly-signed foreign players who have no or little experience of playing in the top league competition here in India.

In the Durand Cup, the ISL teams can face each other in the group stages as well as in the knockout rounds where stakes are much higher. As a result, the newly-signed foreign talents can get an early taste of what they can expect in the ISL and slowly look to adapt their playing style into allowing themselves to play at their most efficient form after pre-season is over.

How it can benefit Indian players

This can also serve as a solid pre-season tournament for Indian players or youngsters that are looking to break into their teams. Be it ISL or I-League sides, younger players are likely to feature heavily in the Durand Cup. If they’re able to perform to their best ability and oust some of the more experienced, quality oppositions, they will put enough pressure on the manager to give them more game time as the season progresses.

When it comes to Indian players, this is a good way to prove that they deserve regular game time once the regular campaign begins. Lallianzuala Chhangte was the Durand Cup’s top-scorer last year with seven goals. It added a spring in his step as the 25-year-old went onto score 18 goals in all competitions for Mumbai City.

Even Bengaluru FC star Sivasakthi Narayanan, who played a key role in helping them win the 2022 Durand Cup, scored five goals in the competition and gave a good impression of his work ethic and skillset in the ISL. He would like to replicate his form once again.

Moreover, possibly over anything else, there needs to be a sense of pride for any player participating in a competition like the Durand Cup. It might be a pre-season tournament now, but it’s still the oldest football tournament in Asia. There needs to be a sense of competitiveness in every participating team, raising the stakes in this being just more than ‘friendly’ games.

Possible advantage for the managers

Teams that are actually ambitious will hold this tournament in high regard and aim to implement their manager’s playing style early on to give a preview of what is to come later in the 2023-24 season.

Even for managers, this is an ideal way to kick-start the campaign. That is because they can potentially tinker with different formations or tactics and try new things before the outset of the season. The ISL or I-League clubs’ managers can also learn from their own mistakes and realize what to avoid later in the campaign.

The Durand Cup should be an exciting competition full of memorable matches. Even though it’s still pre-season, the prestige of the competition and the quality of the teams participating should make it a month-long bonanza to delight Indian football fans.

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