Kolkata : 17 times champion Mohun Bagan Super Giants have urged the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to make Durand Cup 2025 a tournament where only Indian Footballers will feature and all foreigners will be excluded, keeping in mind the betterment of Indian Football.
In a letter sent to the AIFF this week, Mohun Bagan stated, “We, Mohun Bagan Super Giant, hereby request you to make the Durand Cup a domestic player tournament. This will enable the development of Indian players and provide more opportunities to Indian strikers and centre-backs to play.”
Mohun Bagan has been drawn in Group B alongside Diamond Harbour FC, Border Security Force FT, and Mohammedan Sporting. Its campaign begins on July 31 against Mohammedan Sporting.
During an AIFF executive committee meeting, president Kalyan Chaubey discussed proposals to reduce the number of foreign players in domestic leagues. Mohun Bagan believes the Durand Cup presents an ideal opportunity to take a step in that direction.
Currently, ISL and I-League clubs can register 6 foreigners, with only 4 allowed on the field at any time. On the other hand, the Super Cup permits 6 foreign players per team. This considerably reduces Indian players field time, implying lack of opportunities to groom in domestic leagues.
“If the club fields players like Jason Cummings and Jamie Maclaren, where will Suhail Bhat play? The main goal is to give Indian players more playing time,” a source close to the developments told Sportstar.
Therefore, this will give more playing time to Indian players, benefiting the struggling Indian Football team who recently dropped to 133 in FIFA Ranking.
The move also comes amid uncertainty over foreign players’ long-term commitments to ISL clubs. Except for Maclaren, whose has a deal in place till 2028, all other foreign players at the club have contracts expiring next summer.
Although Durand committee accepted 4 proposals of Mohun Bagan previously, there’s no clarity regarding acceptance of all-Indian Durand Cup 2025 proposal. The tournament will kick start on July 23, 2025 , with East Bengal and South United facing each other at Yuva Bharati Kriangan, Kolkata.
