Guwahati: North East United FC (NEUFC) will take on Odisha FC in the opening match of Guwahati leg in the Durand Cup Football on August 17. The match will be held at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium.
It is the first occasion when Guwahati is going to host the oldest soccer tournament of Asia. Altogether 20 teams will participate in the 131st edition of the meet and these are divided into four groups. While Kolkata and Naihati will host the matches of two groups in three different stadiums Guwahati and Imphal are the other venues. There will be a total of 47 games in competition with both Guwahati and Imphal hosting 10-games of group C and group D each.
The opening pool matches are slated to begin on August 16 at Kolkata's Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) stadium, August 17 at Guwahati's Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium and August 18 at Imphal's Khuman Lampakh stadium. The final is slated for September 18 at VYBK.
Among the 20 participating teams 11 are from ISL, four from Services and the remaining teams are from I League. Apart from NEUFC and Odisha FC the other team who are placed in group 'C' are Kerala Blasters, Sudeva Delhi FC and Army Green.
Schedule of matches to be held in Guwahati: August 17: NEUFC vs Odisha FC. August 19: Sudeva Delhi FC vs Kerala Blasters. August 21: NEUFC vs Army Green. August 23: Odisha FC vs Kerala Blasters. August 25: Army Green vs Sudeva Delhi FC. August 27: NEUFC vs Kerala Blasters. August 29: Odisha FC vs Sudeva Delhi FC. August 31: Kerala Blasters vs Army Green. September 2: NEUFC vs Sudeva Delhi FC. September 4: Army Green vs Odisha FC.
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