AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The final round of the 78th Senior National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy will begin on December 14, 2024, in Hyderabad, Telangana.

Twelve teams - nine winners from the group stage, two finalists from last season (Services and Goa) and hosts Telangana are divided into two groups of six each. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals to be played on December 26 and 27. All matches until the quarter-finals will take place at the Deccan Arena.

The semi-finals on December 29 and the final on December 31 will be held at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium.

West Bengal are record 32-time champions and will be searching for their first title since 2016-17. Services, the defending champions, have seven titles to their name of which six have come in the last 11 seasons. Eight-time champions Punjab missed out on qualifying for the final round for the second season in a row. They were defeated in the group stage by Jammu & Kashmir, who qualified for the final round for the first time since 2015-16.

The groups for the 78th NFC for Santosh Trophy Final Round:

GROUP A:
Services (2023-24 Champions)
West Bengal (Group C winners)
Manipur (Group D winners)
Telangana (Hosts)
Jammu & Kashmir (Group A winners)
Rajasthan (Group I winners)

GROUP B:
Goa (2023-24 Runners-up)
Delhi (Group B winners)
Kerala (Group H winners)
Tamil Nadu (Group G winners)
Odisha (Group F winners)
Meghalaya (Group E winners)

FIXTURES
Group A (all matches at Deccan Arena):

December 14
09:00 Manipur vs Services
14:30 Telangana vs Rajasthan
19:30 West Bengal vs Jammu & Kashmir

December 16
09:00 Services vs Jammu & Kashmir
14:30 West Bengal vs Telangana
19:30 Manipur vs Rajasthan

December 18
09:00 Jammu & Kashmir vs Manipur
14:30 Rajasthan vs West Bengal
19:30 Services vs Telangana

December 21
09:00 Telangana vs Jammu & Kashmir
14:30 Rajasthan vs Services
19:30 West Bengal vs Manipur

December 23
09:00 Jammu & Kashmir vs Rajasthan
14:30 Manipur vs Telangana
19:30 Services vs West Bengal

Group B (all matches at Deccan Arena):

December 15
09:00 Kerala vs Goa
14:30 Tamil Nadu vs Meghalaya
19:30 Delhi vs Odisha

December 17
09:00 Goa vs Odisha
14:30 Delhi vs Tamil Nadu
19:30 Kerala vs Meghalaya

December 19
09:00 Odisha vs Kerala
14:30 Meghalaya vs Delhi
19:30 Goa vs Tamil Nadu

December 22
09:00 Tamil Nadu vs Odisha
14:30 Meghalaya vs Goa
19:30 Delhi vs Kerala

December 24
09:00 Odisha vs Meghalaya
14:30 Kerala vs Tamil Nadu
19:30 Goa vs Delhi

Quarter-finals (all matches at Deccan Arena):
December 26
14:30 Group A1 vs Group B4 (QF1)
19:30 Group A2 vs Group B3 (QF2)

December 27
14:30 Group B1 vs Group A4 (QF3)
19:30 Group B2 vs Group A3 (QF4)

Semi-finals (all matches at GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium):
December 29
14:30 QF1 winner vs QF4 winner (SF1)
19:30 QF3 winner vs QF2 winner (SF2)

Final:
December 31
19:30 Semi-final 1 winner vs Semi-final 2 winner