Hyderabad will host the final rounds of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for the first time in 57 years, it was announced by the All India Football Federation on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.
The last time the City of Pearls hosted the prestigious tournament was in the 1966-67 season when Railways defeated Services to lift the trophy in an all-institutional final.
The final rounds are tentatively scheduled for the first week of December. Telangana has received a bye to the final rounds as the host association. The winners of nine groups and last season’s finalists – Services and Goa – will play the final rounds in Hyderabad. The group stages will be played in November.
Group A: Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab
Group B: Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi
Group C: Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar
Group D: Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Tripura
Group E: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram
Group F: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha
Group G: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Andaman & Nicobar
Group H: Kerala, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Railways
Group I: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Rajasthan
(With AIFF inputs)