2023 Durand Cup group stage

The 2023 IndianOil Durand Cup group stage will be played from 3 August to 22 August 2023. A total of 24 teams, consisting 12 ISL clubs, 5 I-League clubs, 1 I-League 2 club, 1 regional league team, 3 Indian Armed Forces teams and 2 Foreign armed force teams, compete in the group stage to decide the 8 places in the knockout stage.

Format
In the group stage, each group is played on a single round-robin format. The table-toppers from each group & two best second-placed teams from group stage advances to the knockout stage.

Tiebreakers
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:


 * 1) Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 2) Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 3) Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 4) If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
 * 5) Goal difference in all group matches;
 * 6) Goals scored in all group matches;
 * 7) Drawing of lots.

Centralised venues
On 10 July, Durand Cup Organising Committee announced that the tournament would be played across more than one city—3 cities—Kolkata, Guwahati and Kokrajhar. The six groups were assigned one or more than one centralised venue, with four out of the six groups having at least one of the teams in the group based from the host city, except Group C and Group E.


 * Group A: Kolkata, West Bengal (Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan and Kishore Bharati Krirangan)
 * Group B: Kolkata, West Bengal (Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kishore Bharati Krirangan and Mohun Bagan Ground)
 * Group C: Kolkata, West Bengal (Kishore Bharati Krirangan, Mohun Bagan Ground and East Bengal Ground)
 * Group D: Guwahati, Assam and Kokrajhar, Assam (Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium and SAI Stadium)
 * Group E: Guwahati, Assam and Kokrajhar, Assam (Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium and SAI Stadium)
 * Group F: Kokrajhar, Assam (SAI Stadium)