Category: Featured Stories

In the crisp winter of December 1940, the skies above an anxious, restless Calcutta carried a secret that would soon alter the landscape of Indian sporting history. The city was a powder keg of anti-colonial sentiment, with the Indian independence movement steadily gaining unstoppable momentum. Yet, on this particular afternoon, the attention of millions was… Continue reading Parrots carrying scores, a defiant Indian referee, and a united nation—How a football club defied the British Empire’s military might

The skies over the Birsa Munda Football Stadium had other plans. Thunderstorms rolled in ahead of kick-off, delaying the start and turning the pitch into a slick, unpredictable surface. By half-time, SC Delhi were behind, outworked in patches and staring at a result that would have handed Jamshedpur FC the early initiative in Group C… Continue reading Thunder, rain and a second half of belief: How SC Delhi found its feet in Ranchi

Shillong, August 4, 2026: There is a particular kind of noise that Shillong reserves for football nights, a rolling, layered roar that gathers in the hills around the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium long before kick-off and refuses to let go. On Monday, it had a new team to test itself against. Mumbay FC, not yet two… Continue reading Two years young, fearless in Shillong: Mumbay FC’s Durand Cup statement

The result may not have gone their way, but for Hardy Cliff Nongbri and Nongkseh Sports Social & Cultural Club, July 31, 2026, will forever remain one of the most significant days in the club’s history. When Nongbri led his hometown club onto the pitch against Shillong Lajong FC in their opening Group E fixture… Continue reading From Shillong Lajong to Nongkseh: A homegrown leader’s new mission

The road to Noney does not arrive so much as negotiate — climbing through betel-nut groves, doubling back along ridgelines the colour of wet tea, before dropping into the Irang valley, where the river moves the way news moves through a small place: slowly, then all at once, until everyone has heard. There is no… Continue reading FC Raengdai’s Durand Cup debut: The ‘Hill Club’ carrying Noney’s light to Imphal

A six-year-old boy kicks a football around a makeshift pitch next to his house in the freezing, windswept coastal city of Vladivostok in Russia, the largest Russian port in the Pacific Ocean near to the borders of China and North Korea. An eagle-eyed local coach spots him, pulling the boy’s grandfather aside to insist the… Continue reading Biryani, Bollywood, and the beautiful game: How Marat Tareck is leaving his mark on Asia’s oldest football tournament

On most evenings in Shillong, football is simply part of everyday life. It spills onto school grounds, neighbourhood pitches and roadside conversations. Children finish classes only to rush to the nearest field, while older fans debate line-ups over cups of tea. Here, football is not an event. It is routine. Tomorrow evening, however, Shillong’s football… Continue reading Dreams, Pride and a Derby: Shillong takes centre stage at the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup

Most footballers spend their careers performing for strangers. Every so often, one has to walk out in front of the people who watched him fail first, who remember him before the club badge and the crowd noise, and that is a different kind of pressure entirely, harder to train for. Nikhil Barla wore it plainly… Continue reading Nikhil Barla’s Durand Cup dream: From Ranchi’s streets to the ‘Furnace’

There is a stone in Sambalpur that has been worshipped since before anyone thought to write down why. It sits on the banks of the Mahanadi, carved into something that might be a face if you squint at it with enough faith, gold leaf pressed where the eyes should be, a nose ring of hammered… Continue reading The Goddess’s XI: How Samaleswari Sporting found its way to Asia’s oldest football tournament

From Sri Lankan military football and I-League 3 success to clubs from Manipur, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Odisha and the North East, eight teams are set to make their tournament debuts at the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup. Defenders FC of Sri Lanka, FC1, Baghpat FC, FC Raengdai, Mumbay FC, Langsning FC, Nongkseh Sports Social and Cultural Club… Continue reading Know Your Debutants: Meet the eight first-timers at the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup