Category: Featured Stories

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… Continue reading A Stage to Shine: Emerging Talents finds their moment at the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup

From retrieving balls on village mud-pitches to anchoring Shillong Lajong against ISL giants, how a local boy became the defensive heartbeat of Meghalaya on Asia’s oldest stage. When he was just eleven years old, Kenstar Kharshong returned to his village, situated a rugged hour’s drive from the heart of Shillong, nursing a severely injured arm.… Continue reading A mother’s stick, A Captain’s armband: Kenstar Kharshong’s Durand Cup Odyssey

Indian football has a well-worn migratory pattern. Talent is found in places most fans couldn’t locate on a map — a village in Assam, a hillside in Manipur, a paddy field in Mizoram — and sent, almost by conveyor belt, toward the academies and floodlit stadiums of the metros. It is a route that runs,… Continue reading The long way home: Halicharan Narzary’s return to Bodoland

There is a hill above Shillong where the pines still stand in ranks, the way they must have stood when the first Khasi traders pitched their iron and salt at a forest clearing and called the place Nongkseh, the village of the pine. Long before anyone in these hills had heard of a football, this… Continue reading Nongkseh’s Durand Cup fairytale: How a Shillong village club went from third division to India’s oldest tournament

Thokchom Diamond Singh had barely settled into the game when he decided the goalkeeper’s near post was there for the taking. It was late in a 7-0 procession at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi, the kind of scoreline where most substitutes are content to jog, collect a pass, give it away, wait for the… Continue reading Sixteen and Fearless: The Boys Taking on Asia’s Oldest Football Tournament

From immaculate defending on muddy maidans to strict military discipline on the touchlines, India’s only Arjuna and Dronacharya awardee looks back at a lifetime of footballing devotion. “Only one cup of tea keeps me moving,” says Syed Nayeemuddin, a quiet intensity still burning in his eyes. Now in his 80s, the man who once struck… Continue reading “Champions are Super Class Mad”: Syed Nayeemuddin and the Golden Era of the Durand Cup

More than 11,000 fans packed the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for a six-goal thriller as Shillong Lajong and Langsning traded blows in a dramatic derby, with Lajong eventually advancing to the quarter-finals and Langsning bowing out after a night of remarkable resilience. There are football matches that are won and lost. And then there are matches… Continue reading A Night Shillong Will Remember: Lajong, Langsning and a Derby for the Ages

In the narrow, football-mad lanes of Downtown Srinagar, nicknames are rarely handed out without reason. For Shakir Ahmad Sheikh, the name “Pogba” was earned on the football field through power, personality and a habit of finding the net from distance. Long before the nickname became familiar in Jammu and Kashmir’s football circles, Shakir was simply… Continue reading Shakir Ahmad Sheikh: The Pogba from Downtown Srinagar waiting for an opportunity to shine

When Everbrightson Sana walks onto the football field, there is little to suggest that one of Indian football’s brightest young forwards almost walked away from the game altogether. Today, the 23-year-old Shillong Lajong striker is among the most exciting attacking prospects in the country, having earned admiration for his movement, finishing and relentless work rate.… Continue reading Everbrightson Sana: The accidental striker lighting the way for Shillong Lajong

The heat is the first thing Debanjan expects to miss noticing. Kolkata in August is not summer but monsoon, and the two are not the same kind of punishing. It is a wet, breathless heat, rain-soaked air that wraps itself around a person like a towel that never quite dries, the kind of humidity that… Continue reading The fair where nobody loses: A football fan’s Durand Cup education in Imphal