Indian football fans know and will agree how gloriously the Indian football season has started after the Indian National team won two back-to-back titles in June-July, winning the Intercontinental Cup & 9th SAFF Championship.
The last season ended with Odhisha FC winning the Super Cup as the least favorite while the new season starts in such a fashionable way not only because India won two trophies but also because the Indian National team could pull a huge crowd of supporters to cheer for them in the stadium. In the SAFF championship final the tickets for Shree Kanteerva stadium in Bengaluru were sold out two days before the final match against Kuwait, something which was unheard of before in the case of Indian football.
Organized fan groups also came and they all synchronously sang " Vande Ma Taram" which really motivated the players to win the 9th SAFF title against invitee strong side Kuwait.
While the National side has well taken care of the start of the 2023-2024 season, the domestic football season will start with Durand Cup just like last season but in a more grand manner. This season's Durand Cup is surely going the ignite the beginning of domestic Indian football season from the 3rd of August. compared to the previous season this time Durand Cup will host 24 teams and will be played across 4 venues ( 2 in West Bengal, Kokhrajhar in Assam & Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong).
All ISL side including newly promoted Roundgalss Punjub, 5 I-league sides includes Gokulam Kerala, Mohammedan FC, Rajasthan United FC, Shillong Lajong, and Delhi FC. 7 other teams belong to the services and this tournament is a joint collaboration of the Indian army and AIFF. After the Indian players in the National team have already created hype of the current Indian football season among the fans it can be expected that after a 1-month break, Durand Cup will ignite the Indian football fever to a level never seen before among the fans as more new Indian players would surely impress the fans just like we got Lallanzuala Chhnagte or a young Gyamar Nikum the last season.
Integration of the Durand Cup within the official domestic Indian football season has helped the Indian players in many ways like having a pre-ISL tournament to prepare well mentally & physically to playing more number of games and more game time and of course, staying for a longer period within professional coaching setup. As a pre-ISL tournament, it will surely increase the reach of domestic football within India and so of ISL.
The hype of the Mohun Bagan vs. East Bengal rivalry in the upcoming Durand Cup will light up the beginning of the Indian football season. The fever and hype this tournament would create will transcend throughout the Indian football season and will bring in many new fans in Indian football.
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