More than 5,600 Players, 610 Matches: The 72nd Annual Bordoloi Cup Will Be Held in a New Format

The Bordoloi Trophy, one of India’s oldest and most popular football tournaments, is set for a revival with more than 5,600 players taking part in the revamped competition that will see 610 matches played over three months from January next year.

Guwahati Sports Association (GSA), the organizers of the tournament, has pledged to revive and rebrand the 72-year-old football competition.

The tournament is named after Gopinath Bordoloi, the first Chief Minister of Assam, and its first edition was held in 1952.

“From its inception until the first half of the 1990s, the Bordoloi Trophy was an extremely popular tournament not only in Assam but also in the north-east and other neighboring states. “People have been waiting for this tournament all year long,” said GSA general secretary Devajit Saikia, recalling the iconic status the competition once had.

The tournament, which was initially played at Judges’ Field, GSA’s home ground, was later shifted to Nehru Stadium.

However, in the last 10 years, the tournament was held in different cities of the state.

Saikia claimed that apart from the Bordoloi Trophy, other legacy football tournaments such as Rovers Cup of Mumbai and DCM Cup of Delhi are also declining in popularity.

“GSA is striving to bring back the glory days of Bordoloi Trophy, with which the people of Assam had an emotional and emotional bond. “With the support of the state government, we are announcing this in a new format,” he said.

In the new, expanded format, the tournament will be held in three stages.

“It will be a 45-day tournament in which approximately 610 matches will be played, with the participation of more than 280 clubs and 5,600 players. The GSA general secretary said district-level matches will be played between January 20 and February 5, 2025, followed by division-level matches and then the final round.

“For the first time, the Bordoloi Trophy will be thrown simultaneously on the same day in all 35 districts of the state,” he added.

Each regional sports federation will select the eight best clubs to compete in the first stage. Regional champions will play in the division round, and the winners and runners-up of the division level will qualify for the final round.

The final round will be played at the Jury Ground here from March 1 and will also feature the top two teams of the Guwahati Premier League.

“We divide the state’s 35 revenue regions into six clusters based on geographical location. Our aim is to provide maximum players with the opportunity to compete and turn the Bordoloi Trophy into a talent scouting ground for top clubs,” said Saikia.

He expressed his gratitude to the state government and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for coming forward to help GHQ in expanding the tournament.

“The new format requires financial and other support and we are grateful to the government for agreeing to be with us on this.”

Saikia said the two teams that will be invited to the final round could be top clubs from Kolkata or Kerala or Bangladesh or Bhutan.

“We will invite our players so that they can compete with the best football players,” he said.

Saikia hoped the new format would benefit state football more than the previous practice of only inviting top clubs to participate.

In addition to the country’s best clubs, teams from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Iran and Russia had previously participated in the tournament.

While Mohan Bagan was the most successful team with seven championships, Oil India won in the last edition.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)