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Santosh Trophy- All you need to know about its History and Fixtures of 2019

The Santosh Trophy is an association football competition contested by the regional state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation.

Surbhi Khera
Last updated: 21.09.2019
Santosh Trophy- All you need to know about its History and Fixtures of 2019 | Sports Social Blog

Santosh Trophy is an Indian football tournament in which the states of the country along with some government institutions participate under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the sport’s governing body in India.

The Santosh Trophy was considered the top domestic championship in India before the first national club league that is the National Football League. The tournament is held every year and around 31 teams participate which are further divided into groups and are required to qualify the preliminary round to participate in the tournament. The most successful team is West Bengal with 32 titles.

 

History

 

The tournament was started in 1941 and is named after late Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, now in Bangladesh who was the president of the Indian Football Association. There was a lack of proper main championships for football teams and the other main competitions were the Durand Cup, Rovers Cup, and the IFA Shield and thus to provide young players with opportunities,  AIDD made the Santosh Trophy into an under-23 competition in 1990. After 3 seasons, this tournament was changed to senior competition.

The IFA donated the Santosh Trophy, whereas the runner-up trophy was donated by an ex-IFA president, S.K. Gupta which is known as Kamla Gupta Trophy. Another trophy was donated by the Karnataka State Football Association.

This is seen as a platform that gives opportunities to other players to come up. Bob Houghton, who was a head coach of India, said that the tournament should be discontinued and is a complete waste of time. He was irked as during the tournament Sunil Chhetri injured himself in 2009 and thus had to miss the Nehru Cup. Then, later on, it was decided that the national team players would not be a part of this tournament anymore but the decision was reverted later. In 2013, AIFF decided that I-League players would not be allowed to participate in the Santosh Trophy.

 

2018-19 Santosh Trophy

 

The last tournament was the 73rd edition of the Santosh Trophy which was held from 8th April to 21st April 2019. Around 10 teams participated. It was the premier competition in India for teams representing their regional and state football associations. Services emerged as the Champions by bagging their 6th title and Punjab emerged as Runner-up. There were 23 matches played. The top goal scorers were Ayush Adhikari from Delhi and Arif Shaikh from Maharashtra with 6 goals. Though in 2017-18 season, Kerala were the defending champions and defeated West Bengal in the final but both teams were not able to qualify for the main round.

 

 

Records

  • Inder Singh- Tournament top scorer (45 goals)

  • Inder Singh- Most goals in a single tournament (23 goals in 1973-74)

  • N. Paisley and Inder Singh- Most goals in a single match

 

Fixtures of 2018-19

 

NORTHEAST ZONE

 

Group A

22nd September

Mizoram vs. Arunachal Pradesh

Assam vs. Tripura

24th September

Arunachal Pradesh vs. Assam

Tripura vs. Mizoram

26th September

Mizoram vs. Assam

Tripura vs. Arunachal Pradesh

 

Group B

23rd September

Meghalaya vs. Railways

Manipur vs. Nagaland

25th September

Railways vs. Manipur

Nagaland vs. Meghalaya

27th September

Nagaland  vs. Railways

Manipur vs. Meghalaya

 

WEST ZONE

 

GROUP A

22nd September

Daman and Diu vs. Maharashtra

Gujarat vs. Services

24th September

Gujarat vs. Daman and Diu

Lakshadweep vs. Maharashtra

26th September

Lakshadweep vs. Gujarat

Services vs. Daman and Diu

28th September

Services vs. Lakshadweep

Maharashtra vs. Gujarat

30th September

 Maharashtra vs. Services

Daman and Diu vs. Lakshadweep

 

Group B

23rd September

Dadra & Nagar Haveli vs. Madhya Pradesh

Goa vs. Rajasthan

25th September

Madhya Pradesh vs. Goa

Rajasthan vs. Dadra & Nagar Haveli

27th September

Goa vs. Dadra & Nagar Haveli

Rajasthan vs. Madhya Pradesh

NORTH ZONE

 

Group A

22nd September

Haryana vs. Uttarakhand

Punjab vs. Jammu Kashmir

24th September

Uttarakhand vs. Punjab

Jammu Kashmir vs. Haryana

26th September

Uttarakhand vs. Jammu Kashmir

Haryana vs. Punjab

 

Group B

23rd September

Chandigarh vs. Himachal Pradesh

Delhi vs. Uttar Pradesh

25th September

Himachal Pradesh vs. Delhi

Uttar Pradesh vs. Chandigarh

27th September

Himachal Pradesh vs. Uttar Pradesh

Chandigarh vs. Delhi

 

EAST ZONE

 

Group A

22nd September

Odisha vs. Bihar

24th September

Bihar vs. West Bengal

26th September

West Bengal vs. Odisha

 

Group B

23rd September

Sikkim vs. Chhattisgarh

25th September

Chhattisgarh vs. Jharkhand

27th September

Jharkhand vs. Sikkim

 

 

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