67th Santosh Trophy: Groupings and Format released

The 67th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy will be hosted by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Kerala from February 1 to March 3, 2013 according to information released with the tournament set to be played under a new format. The AIFF in the end decided against dividing the states into two tiers and separate tournaments. Under the new format the semifinalists of last year Services (defending champions), Tamil Nadu (runners-up), Kerala and Manipur are seeded into the four team quarterfinal league, the 12 stronger states outside of last years semifinals are placed in qualifying round I with two teams making it into the quarterfinal league and the rest of the states in qualifying round II with only one state making it into the quarterfinal league.

While Lucknow and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh will host qualifying round I and II matches, while Kollam in Kerala will host qualifying round II and quarterfinal league matches and Kochi will host matches of qualifying round I, quarterfinal league, semifinals and final.

67th Santosh Trophy – Groups

Qualifying round II (one team from each group moves to quarterfinal league)

Cluster A (Kollam, February 13 onwards): Jharkhand, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Nagaland

Cluster B (Kollam, February 10 onwards): Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Daman&Diu

Cluster C (Lucknow/Varanasi, UP; February 2 onwards): Assam, Andaman&Nicobar, Jammu&Kashmir, Rajasthan

Cluster D (Lucknow/Varanasi, UP; February 1 onwards): Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Sikkim

Qualifying round I (two teams from each group qualify to quarterfinal league)

Group A (Kochi, February 13 onwards): West Bengal, Delhi, Railways

Group B (Lucknow/Varanasi, UP; February 11 onwards): Punjab, Meghalaya, Odisha

Group C: (Lucknow/Varanasi, UP; February 12 onwards): Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Mizoram

Group D (Kochi, February 14 onwards): Goa, Chhattisgarh, Haryana

Quarterfinal round (winner of each group enters semifinal)

Group A (Kochi, February 22 onwards): Services, Qualifying Group I (A-1), Qualifying Group I (B-2), Qualifying Group II (winner of Cluster D)

Group B (Kollam, February 21 onwards): Tamil Nadu, Qualifying Group I (D-1), Qualifying Group I (C-2), Qualifying Group II (Cluster A winner)

Group C (Kochi, February 21 onwards): Kerala, Qualifying Group I (C-1), Qualifying Group I (D-2), Qualifying Group II (Cluster C winner)

Group D (Kollam, February 22 onwards): Manipur, Qualifying Group I (B-1), Qualifying Group I (A-2), Qualifying Group II (Cluster B winner)

Semifinals (Kochi): Winner Group B v Winner Group C (February 27); Winner Group A v Winner Group D (February 28)

Final (Kochi): March 3