The draw for the 79th National Football Championship for the final round of the Santosh Trophy 2025-26, which will take place in Dhakuakhana and Silapathar, Assam, took place on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, at the Football House in New Delhi.
The final round starts on January 21, 2026, with twelve teams 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.
As hosts, Assam got direct entry into the final rounds, while West Bengal and Kerala automatically qualified as the winners and runners-up respectively of the 2024-2025 edition. The remaining nine teams each qualified as the top teams in their respective groups in the group stage held earlier this month.
The top four teams from each group will advance 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.
Final round draw of 79th Santosh Trophy National Football Championship 2025-26:
Group A: Assam (hosts), West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Rajasthan.
Group B: Kerala, Services, Punjab, Odisha, Railways, Meghalaya.
AIFF media
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