Santosh Trophy final round to begin on December 14 in Hyderabad
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The final round of the 78th Senior National football Championship for Santosh Trophy will begin on December 14 in Hyderabad. Twelve teams - nine winners from the group stage, two finalists from last season (Services and Goa) and hosts Telangana are divided into two groups of six each. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals to be played on December 26 and 27. All matches until the quarter-finals will take place at the Deccan Arena. The semi-finals on December 29 and the final on December 31 will be held at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium. West Bengal are record 32-time champions and will be searching for their first title since 2016-17. Services, the defending champions, have seven titles to their name of which six have come in the last 11 seasons. Eight-time champions Punjab missed out on qualifying for the final round for the second season in a row. They were defeated in the group stage by Jammu & Kashmir, who qualified for the final round for the first time since 2015-16.
The groups for the 78th NFC for Santosh Trophy Final Round:
Group A:
Services (2023-24 Champions)
West Bengal (Group C winners)
Manipur (Group D winners)
Telangana (Hosts)
Jammu & Kashmir (Group A winners)
Rajasthan (Group I winners)
Group B:
Goa (2023-24 Runners-up)
Delhi (Group B winners)
Kerala (Group H winners)
Tamil Nadu (Group G winners)
Odisha (Group F winners)
Meghalaya (Group E winners)
Fixtures:
Group A (all matches at Deccan Arena):
December 14 - Manipur vs Services, Telangana vs Rajasthan, West Bengal vs Jammu & Kashmir
December 16 - Services vs Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal vs Telangana, Manipur vs Rajasthan
December 18 - Jammu & Kashmir vs Manipur, Rajasthan vs West Bengal, Services vs Telangana
December 21 - Telangana vs Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan vs Services, West Bengal vs Manipur
December 23 - Jammu & Kashmir vs Rajasthan, Manipur vs Telangana, Services vs West Bengal
Group B (all matches at Deccan Arena):
December 15 - Kerala vs Goa, Tamil Nadu vs Meghalaya, Delhi vs Odisha
December 17 - Goa vs Odisha, Delhi vs Tamil Nadu, Kerala vs Meghalaya
December 19 - Odisha vs Kerala, Meghalaya vs Delhi, Goa vs Tamil Nadu
December 22 - Tamil Nadu vs Odisha, Meghalaya vs Goa, Delhi vs Kerala
December 24 - Odisha vs Meghalaya, Kerala vs Tamil Nadu, Goa vs Delhi
Quarter-finals (all matches at Deccan Arena):
December 26 - Group A1 vs Group B4 (QF1); Group A2 vs Group B3 (QF2)
December 27 - Group B1 vs Group A4 (QF3); Group B2 vs Group A3 (QF4)
Semi-finals (all matches at GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium):
December 29 - QF1 winner vs QF4 winner (SF1); QF3 winner vs QF2 winner (SF2) Final: December 31 - Semi-final 1 winner vs Semi-final 2 winner
