The 130th edition of the Durand Cup football tournament will be held here from September 5 to October 3, but the city’s two most prominent and popular clubs will not be participating in it.

According to a media release from the tournament organisers, five Indian Super League (ISL) franchises and three I-League teams will be among 16 sides vying for top honours. But the list does not include ATK Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, which have each won the Cup 16 times. While Bagan are currently in Maldives for their AFC Cup engagements, East Bengal are embroiled in a tussle with its investors.

Besides top ISL franchises FC Goa and Bengaluru FC, the other clubs from India’s premier league would be Kerala Blasters, Jamshedpur FC and Hyderabad FC. Representing Calcutta’s challenge will be Mohammedan Sporting, who were the first Indian winners of the Durand Cup in 1940.

Apart from Mohammedan Sporting, the other two I-League clubs which will be seen in action are defending champions Gokulam Kerala and Sudeva FC of Delhi.

FC Bengaluru United and Delhi FC will represent the second division of Indian football while two Indian Army teams (Red and Green), a team from Indian Air Force and Indian Navy, CRPF, and the Assam Rifles complete the competitors’ list.

The meet, traditionally organised by the Indian Army, will have the Bengal government as joint hosts. Three venues across the state — Salt Lake Stadium, Mohun Bagan ground and the Kalyani Municipal Stadium — have been marked for the matches.

Durand Cup, which was first held in Calcutta in 2019 after moving from its long-time venue Delhi, is the world’s third oldest and Asia’s oldest football tournament, dating back to 1888.

The inaugural edition happened in Shimla that year, when it started off as an Army Cup, open only to the British Indian Army troops in India, but opened up to civilian teams in 1940.

The tournament was named after its founder, Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of British India from 1884 to 1894.