Santosh Trophy

Santhosh Trophy

The Santosh Trophy is a football knock-out competition played by regional state associations and government institutions affiliated with the All India Football Federation (AIFF), India's governing body in Sports.

It is named after late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh (now in Bangladesh), who was the head of West Bengal's football organisation at the time (which later became the Indian Football Association).

Prior to the establishment of India's first national club league, the National Football League, in 1996, the Santosh Trophy was regarded as the country's top domestic championship in India.

The tournament is conducted once a year and features 37 teams separated into groups that must qualify for the tournament properly through the preliminary stage.

The runners-up trophy is known as the Kamla Gupta Trophy, and it was presented in honour of his wife by late Dr. S.K. Gupta, former president of the Indian Football Association. 

The trophy awarded to the third-placed team is known as the Sampangi Cup, and it was established in 1952 by the Mysore Football Association (now KFSA) in remembrance of Sampangi, a well-known Mysore player.


Basic Facts

  • Started in – 1941.
  • Named After – Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary.
  • The runners-up trophy is known as – Kamla Gupta Trophy.
  • First Santosh Trophy matches were played in – Calcutta.
  • Winners of the first Santosh Trophy –  Bengal.
    • Defeated Delhi (5-1)
  • First Santosh Trophy tournament in Kerala was held at – Ernakulam (Twelfth Santosh Trophy, 1955).
  • Kerala first won the Santosh Trophy in the Year – 1973 (Thirty Santosh Trophy).
    • Captain of the first Santosh Trophy winning team of Kerala – T.K. Subramanian / T.K. Mani / Captain Mani.
    • Defeated Services  (3-2).
    • Coach – Simon Sunderraj.
    • Vice-captain – T. A. Jaffar.
    • Venue – Maharaja’s College Stadium, Kochi.
  • First Malayali captain to win the Santosh Trophy – O. Chandrasekharan (Captain of Maharashtra Team, 1963).
  • Years Kerala won the Santosh Trophy – 7 times.
    • 1973, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2004, 2017, 2022.
  • Kerala's first title outside South India – 2001.
  • The team that has won the Santosh Trophy for the most no of times – West Bengal (32 wins).
    • and 14 runners up finishes for a total of 46 final appearances.
  • Punjab has the second highest number of wins (8 times).
  • Kerala ranks third in number of wins (7 times).
  • Services ranks fourth with 6 victories.


75th Santosh Trophy 2022


The details of the 75th Santosh Trophy Tournament of 2022 that was hosted by Kerala is given below:

  • Winners of 75th Santosh Trophy Tournament – Kerala.
    • Kerala beat West Bengal 6-5 in the penalty shootout.
  • Kerala’s third win in a Santosh Trophy tournament on home soil.
  • Venue – Manjeri Payyanad Stadium (Malappuram, Kerala).
  • Captain of  the Kerala Team –  Jijo Joseph.
  • Coach of the Kerala Team – Bino Goerge.
  • Player of the Tournament –  Jijo Joseph.
  • Top scorer – Jesin T.K. (9 Goals).

Captains of Santosh Trophy Winning Teams of Kerala

The following table lists the year in which Kerala won Santosh Trophy and the captains who led the winning teams:

YearCaptain
1973 T.K. Mani
1992V. P. Sathyan
1993Kurikesh Mathew
2001V. Sivakumar
2004Sylvester Ignatius
2017Rahul V. Raj
2022Jijo Joseph

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