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

## Prize money

| Position | Prize money |
| Champions | ₹4 million (equivalent to ₹4.5 million or US$52,000 in 2023) |
| Runners-up | ₹2 million (equivalent to ₹2.2 million or US$26,000 in 2023) |
| Semi-finalists | ₹0.5 million (equivalent to ₹560,000 or US$6,500 in 2023) |
| Season awardees | ₹0.1 million (equivalent to ₹110,000 or US$1,300 in 2023) |
| Total | ~₹7.3 million (US$84,000) |

## Official sponsors and partners

Source: Durand Cup

## Venues

| Kalyani | Kolkata | 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Indian Air Force | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 1 | |
| 4 | CRPF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 | |

#### Matches
### 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Jamshedpur | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 3 | |
| 4 | Sudeva Delhi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | |

#### Matches
### 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Kerala Blasters | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Indian Navy | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 3 | |

#### Matches
### 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Hyderabad | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 3 | |
| 4 | Assam Rifles | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | −13 | 0 | |

#### Matches
## Knockout stage
### Bracket

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

### Quarter-finals

| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Mohammedan | 1–0 | Gokulam Kerala |
| Army Red | w/o | 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
## 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 |
| 1 | Marcus Joseph | Mohammedan | 5 |
| 3 | Muhammed Nemil | Goa | 4 |
| 3 | Pedro Manzi | Bengaluru United | 4 |
| 3 | Willis Plaza | Delhi | 4 |
| 6 | Azharuddin Mallick | Mohammedan | 3 |
| 6 | Chisom Chikatara | Gokulam Kerala | 3 |
| 6 | Deepak Singh | Army Green | 3 |
| 6 | Leon Augustine | Bengaluru | 3 |
| 6 | Liton Shil | Army Red | 3 |
| 6 | Rahim Osumanu | Gokulam Kerala | 3 |
| 6 | Sivasakthi Narayanan | Bengaluru | 3 |

### 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 |
| 1 | Naveen Kumar | Goa | 2 |
| 2 | Ajmal PA | Gokulam Kerala | 1 |
| 2 | Albino Gomes | Kerala Blasters | 1 |
| 2 | Hrithik Tiwari | Goa | 1 |
| 2 | Lalbiakhlua Jongte | Hyderabad | 1 |
| 2 | Lara Sharma | Bengaluru | 1 |
| 2 | Lovepreet Singh | Delhi | 1 |
| 2 | Roluahpuia | Army Green | 1 |
| 2 | Vishal Yadav | Jamshedpur | 1 |
| 2 | Zothanmawia | Mohammedan | 1 |

## 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)