Football
Santosh Trophy and Senior women's football Championships Groups Announced
AIFF announced the groups for the 76th Senior men's and women's national football championships.
Kerala defeated Bengal last year to claim their 7th Santosh Trophy title.
With a new format and new venue for knock-outs, Senior men's and women's national football championships are back. All 36 states will fight it out in the six groups for a chance to make it to the last round.
The knock-outs which include semi-finals and finals for the 76th senior men's national championships also known as Santosh Trophy will be held in Saudi Arabia.
The six group toppers, along with the three best second-placed teams, will qualify for the final round of the senior men's national championship. The six group toppers and the four best second-placed teams will make it to the final round of the senior women's national championship. Railways and Services will get direct entry into the senior men's national championship.
Railways will get direct entry into the senior women's national championship final round. In the final round, the 12 best teams from across the country will be divided into two groups of six teams each, as they will subsequently play in a round-robin format, before proceeding to the knockout rounds. The 36 state FAs were also invited to bid for the hosting rights of the group stages and the final round.
Groupings for the 76th national football championships for Santosh Trophy:
Group I: Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Leh & Ladakh.
Group II: Kerala, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir.
Group III: Goa, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland.
Group IV: West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Daman & Dadra, Haryana.
Group V: Meghalaya, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar.
Group VI: Punjab, Manipur, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep.
Groupings for the 76th senior women's national football championships:
Group I: Haryana, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Meghalaya, Nagaland.
Group II: Mizoram, Maharashtra, Kerala, Pondicherry, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh.
Group III: Odisha, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura.
Group IV: Jharkhand, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Leh & Ladakh.
Group V: Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Daman & Dadra, Uttar Pradesh, Lakshadweep.
Group VI: Manipur, Assam, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Andaman & Nicobar.
Kerala defeated West Bengal in the Santosh Trophy finals last season to claim their 7th title while Manipur defeated Railways in the women's senior final to claim their 21st title.
