AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The draw for the 79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy 2025-26 Final Round, which will be hosted in Dhakuakhana and Silapathar, Assam, was conducted at the Football House, in New Delhi on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.

The Final Round will kick off on January 21, 2026, with 12 teams being divided into two groups of six each.

Hosts Assam, along with West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, and Rajasthan, have been drawn in Group A, while Kerala, Services, Punjab, Odisha, Railways, and Meghalaya have been drawn in Group B.

Assam got direct entry into the Final Rounds as the hosts, while West Bengal and Kerala qualified automatically as the winners and runners-up of the 2024-25 edition, respectively. The other nine teams have each qualified as the top teams in their respective groups in the Group Stage that was held earlier this month.

The top four teams from each group will progress to the knockout stages. The quarter-finals will be played on February 2 and 3, the semi-finals on February 5, and the final on February 8.

79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy 2025-26 Final Round Draw:

Group A: Assam (hosts), West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Rajasthan.
Group B: Kerala, Services, Punjab, Odisha, Railways, Meghalaya.