Hyderabad will host the final rounds of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for the first time in 57 years, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced on Wednesday.
The last time the City of Pearls hosted the prestigious tournament was in the 1966-67 season when Railways defeated Services to lift the trophy in an all-institutional final.
The final rounds are tentatively scheduled for the first week of December.
Telangana has received a bye to the final rounds as the host association. The winners of nine groups and last season's finalists -- Services and Goa -- will play the final rounds in Hyderabad. The group stages will be played in November.
Group A: Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab.
Group B: Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi.
Group C: Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar.
Group D: Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Tripura.
Group E: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram.
Group F: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha.
Group G: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Andaman & Nicobar.
Group H: Kerala, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Railways.
Group I: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Rajasthan.
