Hero Intercontinental Cup is a fairly young international tournament hosted by India but in its two editions, there has been no shortage of iconic moments, drama and a lot of goals.

The Blue Tigers will host the third edition of the competition from June 9-18 at Bhubaneswar with Lebanon, Vanuatu and Mongolia competing for the honours along with the home side.

India emerged victorious in the first edition in 2018 before DPR Korea took home the trophy a year later. The tournament will now make a return after the Covid-19 pandemic for the first time as India look to kickstart their AFC Asian Cup preparations with a win in the competition.

Ahead of the third edition of the competition, here’s a look at some of the key numbers.

India’s record

The Blue Tigers dominated the first edition of the competition in 2018 but found the going tough in 2019 as they finished fourth in the group.

India have played seven matches in this competition so far, winning three and losing three while drawing the other. They have scored 16 goals in the competition and have conceded 12 goals.

Igor Stimac’s side will look to improve on this record in 2023 edition as they look to reign supreme on home soil and continue their good run at home in recent times.

Key stats:

• India have scored in every Hero Intercontinental Cup match so far. They have failed to score less than two goals in a match on just three occasions.
• India have scored ten goals in the first half of games while six have come in the second half.
• No player has managed to score more than one goal against India. They have conceded goals from 12 different players in the competition’s history.

Sunil Chhetri’s playground

No player has made an impact on the Hero Intercontinental Cup quite like Sunil Chhetri. The Indian captain has 11 Hero Intercontinental Cup goals to his name.

In 2018, a tournament that marked his 100th game in national colours the Bengaluru FC man led from the front to mark the occasion with a brace having scored a hat-trick in the previous match.

Even in 2019, when India found it hard to get their rhythm, Chhetri managed to help himself with three goals.

Key stats:

• Sunil Chhetri has scored 23.4% of the total goals scored in the Hero Intercontinental Cup
• Sunil Chhetri has scored 11 out of India’s 16 goals in the competition.
• Sunil Chhetri is the only player to score a hat-trick in the competition.

Teams

Syria (85) in 2019 are the highest-ranked team to participate in the Hero Intercontinental Cup. The Blue Tigers were ranked 97 when the tournament began in 2018 and were the second-highest ranked to play in the tournament.

Lebanon will become the third top-100-ranked team to feature in the competition with a rank of 99. India will go into the competition ranked 101st in the FIFA charts just like how they were in 2019.

Kenya who were a late replacement for South Africa in the 2018 edition had a ranking of 112, while New Zealand and Chinese Taipei who competed in the 2018 edition were ranked 120th and 121st respectively.

DPR Korea who were the lowest-ranked team in 2019 with a FIFA ranking of 122, went onto win that edition beating higher-ranked Tajikistan (120) in the final.

Vanuatu (164) and Mongolia (183) will be the lowest-ranked teams to participate in Hero Intercontinental Cup.