After making their way to Dehradun on Sunday, the Trophies are now making their way to Udhampur for the third and last destination of the trip
Udhampur, on Monday, July 4: The trophy tour for the 132nd edition of the historic Durand Cup Football competition has arrived at Udhampur. Udhampur is the Headquarters of the Northern Command of the Indian Army and is located in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chief of Staff, Headquarters Northern Command, as well as Nazeer Andrabi, President of the Jammu and Kashmir Football Federation, and a number of other dignitaries, all enthusiastically accepted the three glistening Durand trophies that were presented to them at the ceremony.
The three trophies that are exclusive to the tournament are the Durand Cup, which is a rolling trophy and was the original prize, the Shimla Trophy, which was also a rolling trophy and was first given by a resident of Shimla in 1904, and the President’s Cup, which is for permanent keep and was first presented by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President, in 1956. All three of these trophies are awarded to the winner of the tournament. On Friday, in Delhi, the trophies were jointly waved off on a 17-city Trophy Tour by the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army, General Manoj Pande, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal VK Chaudhary; and the President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kalyan Chaubey. This was done jointly by all three of these individuals.
After making their way to Dehradun on Sunday, the Trophies are now making their way to Udhampur for the next leg on their trip. Before arriving in Kolkata on August 1, 2023, the trip would have stopped in a number of other cities, including Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, Karwar, Kochi, Ezhimala, Bengaluru, Willington, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Shillong, and Aizawl. The tour will start off in Kolkata.
During his remarks, Lieutenant General Anindya Sengupta, UYSM, AVSM, YSM remarked that the tale of Durand was first told in Shimla in the year 1888. Receiving the Durand trophies here at this monumental event is not only an honour and a joy, but it also marks a significant milestone. There is a good reason why football is the most popular sport in the world, and the Indian Army is happy to be affiliated with a competition that is known all over the globe like the Durand Cup. I hope that the event goes well for all of the teams, particularly our close neighbours in the Service community from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan.
Players from a variety of local football teams, schoolchildren, National Cadet Corps Cadets, Officers, Junior Chief Officers, and Udhampur Garrison Troops were present during the occasion. The Yoba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) in Kolkata will play host to both the preliminary round of the 132nd Durand Cup on August 3, 2023 and the championship match on September 3, 2023. Both events will take place in the city. This year’s Durand Cup will feature 24 teams, an increase from the previous year’s field of 20. Among those teams will be all 12 Indian Super League (ISL) clubs. After a gap of 27 years, teams from other nations will once again be competing in the legacy event.
