66th Santosh Trophy to kicks-off tomorrow

The 66th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy will be played from tomorrow until May 27 across Orissa in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur and Baragarh. 34 teams - 32 states plus Railways & Services - are taking part in the inter-state and services tournament.

Record champions Bengal are the defending champions. This editions winners would receive Rs 500,000 (5 lakhs), while the runners-up would get Rs 300,000 (3 lakhs).

But the 66th Santosh Trophy has not seen any pre-tournament hype or mass coverage which used to be the case a few years ago. Going into the tournament it feels like it has to be held therefore it is being played. Now with the tournament staring one can only hope that new, young talent emerges and uses this national platform.

25 teams from across India have been divided into seven Clusters, while last year's quarterfinalists West Bengal, Punjab, Manipur, Goa, Services, Chhattisgarh, Railways and Tamil Nadu plus hosts Orissa have been seeded directly into the Quarterfinal group stage.

The Preliminary Round Cluster matches will be held from May 11 to 16, while the quarterfinal round will take place from May 18 to 23. Both the semifinals will be held simultaneously in Cuttack on May 25, while the final would be played on May 28.

Four venues across Orissa - Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur and Baragarh - will hold the matches of the 66th Santosh Trophy. Cluster I matches will be played in Sambalpur, Cluster II, IV & VI will be played at Cuttack, Cluster III will be played in Baragarh, Cluster V & VII will be played at Bhubaneswar.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

Cluster I: Jharkhand, Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Gujarat
Cluster II: Kerala, Tripura, Himanchal Pradesh
Cluster III: Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Pondicherry
Cluster IV: Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra
Cluster V: Karnataka, Nagaland, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh
Cluster VI: Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Rajasthan
Cluster VII: Haryana, Sikkim, Assam, Daman & Diu


Here are the Preliminary Round Fixtures: 66th Santosh Trophy: The Complete Fixtures .