President Murmu unveils trophies of Durand Cup Tournament

• President Droupadi Murmu unveiled and flagged off the trophies of the Durand Cup Tournament 2026 at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre today on July 7.

• The 135th edition of the football tournament will be held from July 25 to August 23 in five cities.

• The 24 teams will be divided into six groups. New teams would compete this year including a team from Sri Lanka. 

• The Durand Cup Tournament was first held in 1888.

• It is Asia’s oldest football tournament and the world’s third oldest football tournament.

• It was named after its founder Sir Mortimer Durand, who was then the Foreign Secretary in charge of India. 

• The inaugural edition took place in Shimla, when it started off as an Army Cup, open only to the British Indian Army troops in India, but soon opened up to include civilian football clubs.

The winning team gets three trophies:

i) The Durand Cup (a rolling trophy and the original prize).

ii) The Shimla Trophy (also a rolling trophy and first given by the residents of Shimla in 1904).

iii) The President’s Cup (for permanent keep and first presented by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President, in 1956). 

• The tournament is conducted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) under the aegis of All India Football Federation (AIFF).