Itanagar, Feb 21:
The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy breaks new ground every year. Quite literally. After a historic final four stage in Saudi Arabia where Karnataka were crowned champions after 54 years, the nation’s premier State tournament is set to be held in Arunachal Pradesh for the first time.
On March 9, after 18 days of uninterrupted action at the Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, the Santosh Trophy will be lifted for the 77th time. 12 teams (nine qualifiers from the group stage and three automatic qualifiers – hosts Arunachal Pradesh and last year’s finalists Karnataka and Meghalaya) have been divided into two groups of six in the final round.
A total of 37 matches will be played due to the expansion of the knockout stage, where the top four teams from each group will progress to the quarter-finals. The ongoing I-League 2 season has taken a break to allow players to represent their states in the Santosh Trophy.
AIFF Technical Committee chairperson IM Vijayan said, “The importance of the Santosh Trophy cannot be stressed enough as it gives young players the chance to shine. Clubs can identify and unearth talent. It’s great to see the tournament spread to new places, and I can’t wait to come to Arunachal Pradesh and witness the excitement.”
Given the evenly-matched quality in both groups, it won’t be easy to predict the quarterfinalists. Apart from Arunachal Pradesh who will be raring to amaze the home crowd, Group A contains the likes of Meghalaya, who will aim to go one better than their dream run into the final last year.
The group also contains Goa and Kerala, who fought tooth and nail in the group stage as the former ended up as unbeaten toppers and the latter qualified as one of the best runners-up. Goa have one of the most experienced squads in the final round, with most of their players hailing from I-League 2 sides Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo SC. Kerala were an entire team effort in the group stage, with their 12 goals being scored by eight different scorers.
“This year’s Santosh Trophy is different in many ways, with many unique challenges. Our group is expected to be tough, but we must adapt and persevere,” said Kerala head coach Satheevan Balan. In Group B, Karnataka head coach Ravi Babu Raju only has eyes on the title defence. “Coming to the Santosh Trophy as the defending champion is a good feeling. That’s in the past now, and our new task is to retain the title,” said Raju.
