Participation of all 11 Hero ISL teams improved the quality of football in Durand Cup: Tournament chairman KK Repswal

Durand Cup chairman KK Repswal reckons participation of all 11 Hero ISL teams improved the quality of football in the country’s oldest football tournament. The tournament concluded when Bengaluru FC was crowned as champions as they bested Mumbai City FC by 2-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday.

Repswal reckons playing in the Durand Cup also served as ideal preparation for the ISL teams before the commencement of the tournament in October. Some of the ISL teams had picked a full-strength team for the Durand Cup while the others had selected a B-team for the competition.

However, the players were able to get the crucial game time under their belt and it will give them a lot of confidence before the ISL kickstarts on October 7 in Kochi.

In fact, this was the first time when all the 11 ISL teams were taking part in the Durand Cup.

“All 11 teams, except for I think one or two teams probably, had a mix of experience and youth. All these teams just before the ISL season started, were fortunate to get some good practice matches. Otherwise, some of these clubs need to travel abroad to give actual practice matches to the teams,” Repswal told News18 in an interview.

“So it’s a good opportunity for them also to get some really good matches before they start with ISL and definitely to help us improve the quality of football. The spectators get some very good matches and it draws more crowd,” he added.

Repswal added that both teams which made it to the final of the Durand Cup were competitive and urged the fans to support them despite the fact that Kolkata giants ATK Mohun Bagan and East Bengal FC could not qualify for the final.

“Both (teams) are extremely competitive teams. I would like to appeal to all the fans, especially in Kolkata that they should not miss two ISL teams playing in the final. Durand Cup came to Kolkata because we felt the city is the ‘Mecca of football’ in India, so the fans must prove that irrespective that none of the local teams not being successful in reaching the final,” Repswal said.