Santosh Trophy football final round to begin on December 14 in Hyderabad

The final round of the 78th Senior National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy will begin on December 14 in Hyderabad, the national federation announced on Monday.

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 semifinals on December 29 and the final on December 31 will be held at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said.

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 and Kashmir, who 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 champions), West Bengal (Group C winners), Manipur (Group D winners), Telangana (hosts), Jammu and 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).