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 host Telangana are divided into two groups of six each.
The top four teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals to be played on December 26 and 27. All matches until the quarters will take place at the Deccan Arena.
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The semifinals on December 29 and the final on December 31 will be held at the G. M. C Balayogi Athletic Stadium (Gachibowli Stadium).
West Bengal is the record 32-time champion and will be searching for their first title since 2016-17. Services, the defending champion, has seven titles to its name of which six have come in the last 11 seasons.
Eight-time champion Punjab missed out on qualifying for the final round for the second season in a row. It was defeated in the group stage by Jammu & Kashmir, which qualified for the final round for the first time since 2015-16.
Groups for the 78th NFC for Santosh Trophy Final Round:
GROUP A: Services (2023-24 champion), West Bengal (Group C winner), Manipur (Group D winner), Telangana (host), Jammu and Kashmir (Group A winner), Rajasthan (Group I winner)
GROUP B: Goa (2023-24 runner-up), Delhi (Group B winner), Kerala (Group H winner), Tamil Nadu (Group G winner), Odisha (Group F winner), Meghalaya (Group E winner).
