Nagaland began their campaign in the 79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy 2025-26 Final Round with a 4-0 loss to defending champions West Bengal on Wednesday, facing a tough start in the group stage.
Despite the heavy scoreline, Nagaland showed glimpses of fight, though injuries and substitutions issues hampered their performance. Coach Lavoriyi told MT, “West Bengal is a very strong side, and today we had so many lapses due to injuries and substitutions problems. A few of our key players were missed in today’s game. It was our first game and first defeat; we will rectify our mistakes and definitely bounce back stronger.”
With the opening match behind them, Nagaland will next take on Assam on January 23, 2026, aiming for their first points and a chance to bounce back in the fiercely contested group stage.
Match Results |Group-A Highlights:
West Bengal 4 – 0 Nagaland
(Robi Hansda 2’, Sayan Banerjee 32’, Akash Hemram 49’, Aqib Nawab 90’)
Tamil Nadu 1 –0 Assam
(S Devadath 3’)
Rajasthan 3 –2 Uttarakhand (Amit Kumar 1’, Mukesh Kumar 24’, 49’; Nirmal Singh Bisht 38’, 45+2)