Definition of 'Santhosh Trophy'

Definition: Santhosh Trophy is an Indian football tournament in which the states of the country along with some government institutions participate. This is held annually since 1941. Bengal was the first winner of the competition held in 1941. The trophy is named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santhosh, now in Bangladesh.

Description: Sir Manmatha had been the President of the Indian Football Association. The runners-up trophy is called Kamla Gupta Trophy, which was donated by late Dr. S.K. Gupta, former president of the Indian Football Association, in memory of his wife. The trophy given to the team finishing third is called Sampangi Cup, which was presented by the Mysore Football Association (now KFSA) in 1952, in the memory of Sampangi who was a renowned footballer from Mysore. The format for the tournament has kept changing over the years. At present, the teams are divided into eight groups, each of which has three or four teams. The eight winners from each group are then drawn along with four seeded teams, who do not have to go through qualifying round, and these twelve teams are divided in groups of three each. This is the quarter final stage and from there the semi-final and final. Bengal have won Santhosh Trophy a record 31 times, followed by Punjab who have won it 8 times. Kerala and Goa are placed at 3rd position with 5 trophies each. Over the years the importance of Santhosh Trophy has decreased. Many attribute this to the National Football League started in 1996. The prize money for Santhosh Trophy is also very less compared to ISL or I-League and it has become a launch pad for players to get selected for I-League.