Durand Cup: How the event is a platform for India's young stars

The 135th Durand Cup is championing young talent by recognizing eleven 'Emerging Players' with Rs 1 lakh each. The tournament provides a vital platform for youngsters to compete against top teams, gain experience, and showcase their skills on a national stage.

New Delhi [India], August 19 (ANI): Eighty-one minutes into a game that meant far more to Samaleswari Sporting than the scoreline could explain, Veer Arjun Joshi stood over a free-kick, scores level at 2-2. He was nineteen, a debutant in Kolkata, a long way from the academies in Spain and England where much of his football education had happened. The wall belonged to Mohammedan Sporting, one of the oldest clubs in Asian football. Joshi bent the ball over it and in. Samaleswari won 3-2, and somewhere in that arc lay the entire premise of what the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup has been trying to do for its youngest players, a release said.For a young footballer, opportunity rarely announces itself. It arrives disguised as a moment, and what matters is not its size but what a player does with it. At this year's Durand Cup, eleven young footballers have been making those moments count. They have arrived by different roads, representing teams from different corners of the country. Some have been shaped inside the discipline of Armed Forces football, others by regional leagues far from the game's usual spotlight, and a few by clubs building structured pathways to develop them. What connects all eleven is the platform the Durand Cup gave them: a chance to compete, to learn and to be noticed.

A Platform for Emerging Talent

The Durand Football Tournament Society has chosen to build on that platform rather than simply provide it, recognising two Emerging Players from each of Groups A, B, C, E and F, and one more from Group D, every one awarded Rs 1 lakh.* Group A: Md. Altab Hussain (South United FC), Rinshid V (South United FC)* Group B: Saikhom Borish Singh (Indian Army FT), Veer Arjun Joshi (Samaleswari Sporting)* Group C: Samuel K. Vanlalpeka (Indian Air Force FT), Naorem Somananda Singh (Indian Air Force FT)* Group D: Midul Doley (FC Raengdai)* Group E: Kyrmenskhem Mukhim (Langsning FC), Dawancha Carlos Challam (Nongkseh SS & CC)* Group F: Rituraj Mohan (Bodoland FC), Lalpekhlua Lalpekhlua (Karbi Anglong Morning Star FC)

Player Spotlights: Stories of Ambition

Naorem Somananda Singh & Samuel K. Vanlalpeka: The Air Force Perspective

For Naorem Somananda Singh of the Indian Air Force Football Team, the tournament has doubled as a classroom. His defining moment came against Defenders FC, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces side, when the ball broke loose just outside the box, and he met it with a strike that flew into the net. It was his first goal against international opposition, and by his own reckoning, the high point of his career so far. "The goal I scored against the Sri Lankan team, Defenders FC, was the biggest moment of my career, I think," he said.The goal was only part of it. Sharing a pitch with established professionals let him study details no training ground can replicate. "We study their body movements, their positioning, and exactly how they react when they lose the ball," he said. That is what the Durand Cup offers beyond the prestige of a 138-year history: direct exposure to teams at the summit of Indian football. "We play against superior teams which play in the ISL, like Jamshedpur, and professional teams like Delhi. They are very professional teams. We learn a lot from them," he said.He is already looking towards where it all leads. "It's a very prestigious tournament and one of the best platforms for upcoming players. As an emerging player, I would say it's an incredible stage to perform and showcase our talents so that we can improve, get noticed, and eventually make it to the national team."His Air Force teammate, Samuel K. Vanlalpeka, shares that ambition. His standout moment came against SC Delhi, one of the bigger sides in the competition, when he found the net himself. "For me, it was the match against SC Delhi. They are a big team. We showed that we can perform against a big team and that we have the right attitude. For me personally, scoring that goal was also a special moment," he said.Playing against established professionals and foreign footballers, he added, offered lessons beyond the scoreboard. "There has been a lot to learn and a lot to improve from this experience. Playing against big players, big teams and good foreign players gives you a lot of experience. It helps you physically and mentally. It will definitely help me improve and drive me forward." The tournament has left him convinced that players from the Air Force setup can hold their own at a higher level, his next ambition already fixed on India colours.

Veer Arjun Joshi: A Global Journey to a Kolkata Moment

Different roads, same conclusion: the Durand Cup lets an emerging player find out exactly where he stands, and what still needs to change. Joshi's moment against Mohammedan Sporting carried similar weight for both player and club. Samaleswari had arrived in Kolkata as debutants from Sambalpur, Odisha, while his own journey had taken him from the United States through academies in Spain and England. He did not take the chance lightly. "I'm just thankful that Samaleswari Sporting has given me the opportunity to play," he said, his goal showing what can happen when a young player is trusted with responsibility at the moment it matters.That journey has also shaped how he sees the diversity running through Indian football, where teammates arrive from different regions and backgrounds yet find a shared vocabulary on the pitch. "It doesn't matter where you're from, what language you speak or how you were brought up. Football becomes the common language," he said.

Md. Altab Hussain & Rinshid V: The South United Pathway

The other Emerging Players show just how wide that common ground is. At South United FC, the paths taken by Md. Altab Hussain and Rinshid V show why a structured pathway matters. Altab, a nineteen-year-old striker from Manipur, had already made his name in Bangalore's Super Division and earned two India Under-20 call-ups before spending three years inside South United's programme. At the Durand Cup, he carried that experience onto a bigger stage, his direct running and willingness to attack marking him as one of the club's brighter performers.The recognition that followed felt like both acknowledgement and challenge. "I feel very grateful to win the Emerging Player Award. It is a special moment for me and a great reward for the hard work I have put in," he said. The tournament sharpened his sense of how far he still has to travel. "I learned a lot about how to play against top teams and handle difficult situations on the pitch. It showed me the level I need to reach and what I need to improve," he added, his ambitions reaching well past this year. "My goals are to play for the Indian team and the ISL one day. I know there is a lot of work ahead, so I want to keep improving every day."Rinshid's story runs on a different track but arrives at the same truth. The twenty-year-old central midfielder from Malappuram, Kerala, had never been part of any structured footballing setup until South United's scouts spotted him during regional trials. Two years with the club gave him training he had never had before, and the Durand Cup handed him his first real chance to test those foundations against the country's stronger sides. "It was a great experience playing against some of the best teams in the country. Playing at this level gave me the opportunity to challenge myself and learn a lot," he said.His favourite memories came from facing bigger opponents and being recognised for how he matched them. "My favourite moments were playing against big players and winning the Man of the Match award. Those experiences gave me a lot of confidence." More than any result, the tournament altered how he sees himself. "Playing against big teams taught me that I can compete at a higher level. Now, when I play against other teams, I feel more confident and comfortable."The award added another layer to that confidence. "Winning this award at this age makes me feel really proud. It gives me confidence and motivates me to keep working hard and improving," he said, setting his sights higher still. "My next goal is to keep working hard and hopefully play in the ISL. I want to continue improving and get closer to that goal." He credits those who helped him arrive at this point long before any tournament: his father, hometown coach Faheen Sir, and Monish Coach.

A Glimpse at Other Standouts

Elsewhere, other emerging players wrote their own version of the same story. Saikhom Borish Singh gave the Indian Army Football Team an energetic, direct presence in the attacking third, unafraid to take on opponents and create chances, backing it up with goals of his own. In Group D, Midul Doley stood alone as the sole Emerging Player selected, giving FC Raengdai an attacking outlet during a campaign in which the club itself was experiencing the Durand Cup for the first time. Shillong produced two more names whose attacking instincts stood out. Kyrmenskhem Mukhim was a constant menace for Langsning FC, finishing the group stage with two goals and a habit of pushing forward whenever the chance arose. Dawancha Carlos Challam operated from midfield for Nongkseh SS & CC with two goals and an assist, a return reflecting his influence at both ends of the pitch. In Group F, Rituraj Mohan brought work rate and defensive discipline to Bodoland FC while still threatening further up the pitch, and Lalpekhlua gave Karbi Anglong Morning Star FC an outlet from the flank, stretching defences and creating openings of his own.No two of these eleven have travelled an identical route: some shaped by Service football, others by regional leagues and academies far from the game's usual centres. Altab progressed through a structured club programme after first making his mark in Bangalore. Rinshid was discovered on a trial pitch with no prior footballing structure behind him. Joshi's journey crossed three continents before it brought him to a free-kick in Kolkata.

A Deliberate Strategy for Talent Recognition

The Durand Cup is the one place that has brought all of them into the same arena as the ISL and I-League sides, the foreign teams and the seasoned professionals against whom they measured themselves. Its scale and history test an emerging player against the established order, while debutant and regional sides ensure unfamiliar names still find a route into the conversation. Somananda put it plainly. "We are very lucky. We got a very prestigious moment to participate in such a beautiful tournament. It is one of the oldest in Asia and India's biggest tournament."Running a tournament with this much history behind it is one kind of responsibility. Watching every match inside it closely enough to know which teenager deserves a second look is another altogether, and that is the less visible work the Durand Football Tournament Society took on this year. Structuring the recognition across all six groups was a deliberate choice, not a formality. A single award for the best emerging talent across the whole competition would likely have gone to whoever wore the most familiar colours or played on the most televised pitch. Splitting it by group instead meant a teenager from a debutant club in Sambalpur stood on equal footing with a striker groomed inside a Bangalore academy, and a midfielder discovered on a trial pitch in Malappuram carried the same weight as one raised through the discipline of the Armed Forces.Geography and institution stopped mattering. Performance did. That distinction matters because Indian football's talent does not come from one place. It comes from Services teams that rarely make headlines, from clubs in the Northeast quietly building their own pipelines, from academies experimenting with structured pathways, and occasionally from a trial ground where nobody was looking for anyone in particular until, suddenly, they were. A six-group format for recognition acknowledges that reality instead of flattening it into a single, predictable name.There is something worth noting in the timing of it too. For much of Indian football's history, discovery has tended to happen informally: a scout in the stands, a word passed along a corridor, a player picked up almost by accident. What the Society has done with its Emerging Player award is take that informal instinct and give it a structure, a set of criteria and a cheque attached to it. It is a small formalisation of a much larger idea: that identifying talent should not be left to chance, and that an organisation with the reach to watch an entire tournament has a responsibility to use it.

The Lasting Impact: Beyond the Cheque

None of this makes the tournament administrators the heroes of this story. The players remain that, and rightly so. But a competition well into its second century, one that could easily coast on nostalgia and the weight of its own name, choosing instead to build a mechanism that actively hunts for its next generation says something about where its custodians see its role heading. Not simply a stage that already existed and happened to be walked upon, but one that keeps extending itself outward, group by group, performance by performance, so that the next Somananda or the next Rinshid has a clearer path to being seen.For Altab, that recognition carries a simple lesson. "This award shows me that hard work really does pay off. It motivates me to work even harder and keep improving as a player." For Rinshid, it arrives at a formative stage and adds real weight to his confidence. For Somananda, it reinforces his belief in his own international ambitions. For Vanlalpeka, it is one more reason to keep testing himself against bigger opposition. For all eleven, the message underneath the cheque is the same: their performances did not go unseen.That matters more than it might first appear. A tournament like this does not simply hand out recognition and step back; it sets something in motion, a player absorbing lessons from superior opposition and beginning to believe the level above is not out of reach. For Joshi, it was a free-kick against Mohammedan Sporting. For Somananda, a strike against international opposition and an ongoing education in what the country's best do differently. For Vanlalpeka, a goal against SC Delhi and a growing conviction that he belongs among bigger teams. For Altab, an award-validating year inside a structured programme and a clear line of sight to the ISL and the national team. For Rinshid, the discovery that a player with no formal footballing background can hold his own at a higher level. And for Borish Singh, Doley, Mukhim, Dawancha, Rituraj and Lalpekhlua, their own moments of making a mark within a tournament built to allow exactly that.The prize money gives each of those moments added weight. But the lasting reward lies in whatever follows: the next match, the next trial, the next level up. The Durand Cup gave these eleven players a stage on which to begin that climb. What they build from here will decide how the rest of the story reads. (ANI)(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)