Assam prepares to host Santosh Trophy football championship

The 79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy will be hosted by Assam for the seventh time. Matches will be played in Dhakuakhana, Dhemaji and Silapathar, with 12 teams competing. The final is scheduled for February 8, streamed live on FIFA+

Hyderabad: The 79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy is all set for kick-off, with Assam hosting it for the seventh time in its chequered history.

Assam hosted it in Nowgong for the first time in 1959-60 and then again in 1969-70. In between, four editions were organised in Guwahati. Now again, the football fraternity will have the opportunity to witness some of the finest exponents and aspirants of the country in Dhakuakhana near Lakhimpur and Dhemaji, on the northern banks of the Brahmaputra, and Silapathar.

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The rock bed of Indian football saw all the state teams being divided into nine groups for the qualifying rounds, with the group winners advancing to the final rounds. Assam, as hosts, and last season’s finalists West Bengal and Kerala, were seeded directly into the final round groups as they were exempted from playing the initial group stage fixtures. The 12 teams have been divided into two groups of six teams each.

Group A consists of holders West Bengal, hosts Assam, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu, while Group B has Railways, Services, last season’s runners-up Kerala, Punjab, Meghalaya and Odisha.

The top four teams will advance to the knock-out quarter-final rounds to be held on February 2 and 3, 2026. The two semi-finals are scheduled for February 5, with the grand final set for February 8.

The matches will be streamed live on FIFA+.