Indian Football: Roadmap Ahead - How can AIFF make ISL, I-League and National Team better?

#4 Santosh Trophy

The Santosh Trophy had been a crowd puller in the past

The Santosh Trophy could be turned into a biennial, well-marketed spectacle, hosted in May to cash in on the summer crowd. The tournament should have a format similar to the FIFA Confederations Cup with 8 teams vying for the title.

The year in between could be used to set up an elaborate qualifying process, with teams in each zone playing each other on a home-away basis, and these games happening during the International window to keep the local crowds, as well as players not playing for the national team engaged. The state teams could be instrumental in creating fan loyalties, with these games played in second-tier cities to attract larger crowds, and shown on local cable TV.

The Santosh Trophy is to be played once every two years. This tournament could be well marketed nationally and can involve national team players as well. This type of event helps lesser-known players make headlines, and hence earn good contracts.

Such has been the case with the likes of stars such as Ashique Kuruniyan, Rajesh S, Sahal Abdul Samad, Jithin MS, and Tirthankar Sarkar, and hence this should be considered as a good platform for talented players, and future prospects.

Possible Zones and Santosh Trophy

Zonal Classification (no of slots for Santosh Trophy):-

West Zone: Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Dadar and Nagar Haveli (1 + 1 qualifier) - GREEN

North-East Zone: Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh (1 + 1 Qualifier) - BROWN

South Zone: Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep (1) - PINK

East Zone: Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Sikkim, Jharkhand (1) - YELLOW

North Zone: Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh (1) - ORANGE

Central Zone: Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhatisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi (1) - BLUE

Each Zone has an 8-10 team league, and State team which tops each zone qualifies along with the host state to make it 7 teams. The second-placed team from the West and North-east zones play a two-legged qualifier, and the winner of that is the 8th team in the Santosh trophy. The tournament is played with 8 teams divided into two groups, and the top 2 teams from each group qualify for the semis (same format as FIFA Confederations Cup).