Sony Sports Network will be continuing its association with the Durand Cup. Last year, the broadcaster had acquired the exclusive media rights to broadcast the oldest tournament in Asia within India, from 2023-2024. Other than India, the 133rd edition of the tournament is presently also being broadcast in neighboring Afghanistan, Maldives, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
While stating ‘Desh Ka Cup, most of us relate to the cup only in regard to its age-old 136-year legacy; much more so as the legacy has been inseparably linked to the Indian Armed Forces.
The 133rd IndianOil Durand Cup features 24 teams spread across six different groups in four cities. This year’s Durand Cup got a touch of grandeur when, in rekindling a very old tradition and, in fact, a historic moment for Indian football, none other than the Hon. President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu unveiled the three coveted winner’s trophies — the President’s Cup, the Shimla Trophy, and the original prize, the Durand Cup, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan cultural centre on July 10, 2024, while flagging-off this year’s Trophy Tour.
And the grand finale is scheduled for August 31, 2024 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in football-crazy Kolkata, which witnessed a full-house of 65,000 roaring fans last time around. Besides Kolkata, the group league games are being played in Jamshedpur, Shillong, and Kokrajhar. While the first two named places will be hosting the tournament for the first time,.
Football fans can catch all the action on the Sony Sports Ten 2 channel, while the matches will also be streamed live exclusively on SPN’s premium OTT platform, Sony LIV.
The Durand Cup, first held in 1888, got its name after its founder Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, the then Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. It is the only Cup competition at the top level of Indian football that includes all Indian Super League teams, Indian top division teams, and the top of the I-League, the second division, along with invitational teams, the Armed Forces, and a team from the Royal Nepal Army this year.
Now comes the biggest spotlight, one of the grandest derbies in the world—the Kolkata Derby—on August 18 between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and arch-rivals Emami East Bengal FC.
The Durand Cup will provide fans with some top-quality football matches with the cream of Indian football, including Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhinghan, Adrian Luna, Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Sahal Abdul Samad, Anirudh Thapa, and Dimitrios Diamantakos, to name a few. With such elite talent expected to grace the pitch, the tournament surely is going to raise the excitement and thrill for the fans.
According to Rajesh Kaul, chief revenue officer – Distribution & International Business and head – Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India, “It is an honor for us to have a competition of football heritage and immense prestige as Durand Cup on our roster. It further reaffirms Sony Sports Network’s position as the Home of Football in India. The current edition brings in a lot of promising competition to the table and fans can look forward to some top-quality games as the new football season kicks off in style.”.
Lt. Gen. RC Srikanth, VSM Chief of Staff, HQ, Eastern Command and Chairman, Durand Cup Organising Committee, explained, “The Durand Cup Organising Committee is absolutely delighted to extend their partnership with a world-class broadcaster like the Sony Sports Network for the prestigious IndianOil Durand Cup this year, entering its 133rd Edition. No ordinary tournament, the Durand Cup presents a unique opportunity and platform for budding footballers from every corner of the country to get to share the same field space with world legends. The legacy of the Durand shall be carried forth to greater heights, and we are quite confident that to be the case with a partner like Sony Sports Network standing by steadfastly.”
