Template:Infobox football tournament season
The 2025–26 Santosh Trophy was the 79th edition of the Santosh Trophy, the premier competition in India for senior men's football teams representing their respective states/union territories and government institutions.[1]
Venues
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced in November 2025 that the group stage matches would begin the following month and would be played in nine venues. The venues and the corresponding groups that would play there were named. Hosts Assam and last year's finalists, West Bengal and Kerala were exempted from playing the group stage fixtures. Assam is hosting the event after 15 years.[1]
| Group | City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Mahilpur | Mahilpur Stadium | 10,000 |
| B | Greater Noida | Sharda University Stadium | – |
| C | Ranchi | Birsa Munda Football Stadium | 40,000 |
| D | Agartala | Umakanta Mini Stadium | 5,000 |
| E | Shillong | SSA Football Stadium | 15,100 |
| F | Narayanpur | RKM Sports Complex | 1,000 |
| G | Anantapur | RDT Stadium | 5,000 |
| H | Bengaluru | Bangalore Football Stadium | – |
| I | Jaipur | Vidyadhar Nagar Stadium | – |
| Template:Nobr[2] | Dhakuakhana & Dhemaji |
Dhakuakhana Football Stadium & Silapathar Football Stadium |
|
| Knockouts |
Draws
38 teams entered the competition; West Bengal and Kerala, the finalists of the previous edition and Assam, the hosts received direct entry to the final round. The remaining 35 teams were divided into 1 group of 3 teams and 8 groups of 4 teams each. It was announced that the winners of each group would make the final round.[1][3]
Group stage
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Group E
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Group F
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Group G
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Group H
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Group I
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Final round
Qualified teams
| Direct entrants (3) | |
|---|---|
| Hosts | Assam |
| Defending champions | West Bengal |
| Previous runners-up | Kerala |
| Group | Group winners (9) |
|---|---|
| A | Punjab |
| B | Uttarakhand |
| C | Railways |
| D | Nagaland |
| E | Meghalaya |
| F | Odisha |
| G | Tamil Nadu |
| H | Services |
| I | Rajasthan |
Group A
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Group B
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Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-finals
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Semi-finals
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Final
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Statistics
| Rank | Player | Team | Goal(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Himanshu Jangra | Delhi | 9 |
| 2 | Abhishek Pawar | Services | 7 |
| 3 | Nirmal Singh Bisht | Delhi | 6 |
| 4 | Mukesh Kumar | Rajasthan | 6 |
| 5 | Devadath S | Tamil Nadu | 6 |
| Source: AIFF | |||
Awards
The following awards were given out at the end of the tournament: the top scorer, Best Goalkeeper, Player of the Tournament and Fair Play Award.
| Award | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Top Scorer | ||
| Best Goalkeeper | ||
| Player of the Tournament | ||
| Fair Play Award |
Broadcasting
| Territory | Broadcaster(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Script error: No such module "flag". | YouTube | [1] |
| FIFA+ | [2][4] | |
| Script error: No such module "flag". Global |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Assam to host Santosh Trophy 2025-26 Final Round in January . www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
- ↑ 79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy: Draw out for 12-team Final Round . www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
- ↑ 79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy: Fixtures . www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
- ↑ Santosh Trophy to be streamed live globally on FIFA+ for free. www.the-aiff.com. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
External links
- Template:Official website
- Tournament results – home at FootyStats
Template:Santosh Trophy Template:Portal bar Template:2025–26 in Indian football