125th Durand Cup: Fixtures of the tournament proper are out!

The 125th edition of the Durand Cup kicked-off with the qualifiers a few days ago on August 16 with 16 teams trying to make it into the quarterfinal league in which 12 teams will try and win the trophy. The tournament proper will be held from August 23 with the final slated for September 1. All matches are being played at the Ambedkar Stadium.

As reported earlier ( 125th Durand Cup: Problems at the start of India's oldest tournament ) the tournament has been sidelined this season and faced numerous problems which has resulted in no Kolkata club and neither the top Goan sides in former champions Dempo SC, Churchill Brother SC and Salgaocar SC taking part.

Even though a weakened competition this time around there are still I-League sides involved in Air India, Pailan Arrows, Pune FC, ONGC and Sporting Clube de Goa besides Division 2 sides HAL - Bangalore and Sesa Football Academy plus newcomers Dodsal FC from Mumbai.

The organisers also faced problems with a key sponsor, who pulled out at the last moment and therefore the organisers have also cut down on the prize money from Rs 4 Million (40 lakhs) to Rs 2 Million (20 lakhs). The champions would now received Rs 1 Million (10 lakhs), the runners-up Rs 500,000 (5 lakhs) and the beaten semifinalists Rs 250,000 (2,5 lakhs).


FIXTURES

Quarterfinal League

Group I
23-Aug-2012: Qualifier A1 or HAL, Bangalore - Qualifier B1
25-Aug-2012: Qualifier A1 or HAL, Bangalore - Dodsal FC, Mumbai
27-Aug-2012: Dodsal FC, Mumbai - Qualifier B1

Group II
23-Aug-2012: Pune FC - Army Red
25-Aug-2012: Army Red - Sesa Football Academy
27-Aug-2012: Sesa Football Academy - Pune FC

Group III
24-Aug-2012: Qualifier A2 - Pailan Arrows
26-Aug-2012: Qualifier A2 - Air India
28-Aug-2012: Pailan Arrows - Air India

Group IV
24-Aug-2012: Qualifier B2 - Sporting Club de Goa
26-Aug-2012: Qualifier B2 - ONGC, Mumbai
28-Aug-2012: ONGC, Mumbai - Sporting Club de Goa

Semifinals
30-Aug-2012: Winner Group I - Winner Group III
30-Aug-2012: Winner Group II - Winner Group IV

Final
01-Sep-2012: Winner SF1 - Winner SF2