The Santosh Trophy is a prestigious inter-state national football competition for men in India.

Started in 1941, the Santosh Trophy was launched by the Indian Football Association (IFA), the former governing body for the sport in India. It was founded in order to address the need for a state-level national football championship in the country. 

The Durand Cup, Rovers Cup and IFA Shield were some of the other major nationwide football competitions at the time,

The Santosh Trophy is named after former IFA president Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh.

The IFA later donated the Santosh Trophy to the AIFF. Since then, the Santosh Trophy has been organised by the AIFF.

Apart from the winners, the runner-ups and third-placed teams in the Santosh Trophy also receive separate trophies. The runners-up trophy is named the Kamla Gupta Trophy. It was donated by another former IFA president, Dr SK Gupta, in memory of his wife.

The third-placed trophy is called the Sampangi Cup, named in memory of a renowned footballer from Mysore, Sampangi.

Bengal (now West Bengal) won the first edition of the Santosh Trophy after beating Delhi 5-1 in the 1941-42 final. They are also the most successful team in the tournament’s history after winning a staggering 32 titles.

Punjab are second on the list with eight titles while Kerala are third with seven trophies.

Karnataka are the defending champions of the Santosh Trophy after beating Meghalaya 3-2 in the 2022-23 final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Get Santosh Trophy winners list.

Santosh Trophy winners list: Know all the champions from 1941-2024

Season

Host City

Winner

Runner-up

1941-42

Kolkata

Bengal

Delhi

1944-45

Delhi

Delhi

Bengal

1945-46

Bombay

Bengal

Bombay

1946-47

Bangalore

Mysore

Bengal

1947-48

Kolkata

Bengal

Bombay

1949-50

Kolkata

Bengal

Hyderabad

1950-51

Kolkata

Bengal

Hyderabad

1951-52

Bombay

Bengal

Bombay

1952-53

Bangalore

Mysore

Bengal

1953-54

Kolkata

Bengal

Mysore

1954-55

Madras

Bombay

Services

1955-56

Ernakulam

Bengal

Mysore

1956-57

Trivandrum

Hyderabad

Bombay

1957-58

Hyderabad

Hyderabad

Bombay

1958-59

Madras

Bengal

Services

1959-60

Nowgong

Bengal

Bombay

1960-61

Kozhikode

Services

Bengal

1961-62

Bombay

Railways

Bombay

1962-63

Bangalore

Bengal

Mysore

1963-64

Madras

Maharashtra

Andhra Pradesh

1964-65

Guwahati

Railways

Bengal

1965-66

Kollam

Andhra Pradesh

Bengal

1966-67

Hyderabad

Railways

Services

1967-68

Cuttack

Mysore

Bengal

1968-69

Bangalore

Mysore

Bengal

1969-70

Nowgong

Bengal

Services

1970-71

Jalandhar

Punjab

Mysore

1971-72

Madras

Bengal

Railways

1972-73

Goa

Bengal

Tamil Nadu

1973-74

Ernakulam

Kerala

Railways

1974-75

Jalandhar

Punjab

Bengal

1975-76

Kozhikode

Bengal

Karnataka

1976-77

Patna

Bengal

Maharashtra

1977-78

Kolkata

Bengal

Punjab

1978-79

Srinagar

Bengal

Goa

1979-80

Coimbatore

Bengal

Punjab

1980-81

Cuttack

Punjab

Railways

1981-82

Thrissur

Bengal

Railways

1982-83

Kolkata

Bengal and Goa were joint winners

1983-84

Madras

Goa

Punjab

1984-85

Kanpur

Punjab

Maharashtra

1985-86

Jabalpur

Punjab

Bengal

1986-87

Calcutta

Bengal

Railways

1987-88

Kollam

Punjab

Kerala

1988-89

Guwahati

Bengal

Kerala

1989-90

Margao

Goa

Kerala

1990-91

Palakkad

Maharashtra

Kerala

1991-92

Coimbatore

Kerala

Goa

1992-93

Kochi

Kerala

Maharastra

1993-94

Cuttack

Bengal

Kerala

1994-95

Chennai

Bengal

Punjab

1995-96

Margao

Bengal

Goa

1996-97

Jabalpur

Bengal

Goa

1997-98

Guwahati

Bengal

Goa

1998-99

Chennai

Bengal

Goa

1999-00

Thrissur

Maharashtra

Kerala

2001-02

Mumbai

Kerala

Goa

2002-03

Imphal

Manipur

Kerala

2004-05

Delhi

Kerala

Punjab

2005-06

Kochi

Goa

Maharashtra

2006-07

Gurgaon

Punjab

West Bengal

2007-08

Srinagar

Punjab

Services

2008-09

Chennai

Goa

West Bengal

2009-10

Kolkata

West Bengal

Punjab

2010-11

Guwahati

West Bengal

Manipur

2011-12

Odisha

Services

Tamil Nadu

2012-13

Kochi

Services

Kerala

2013-14

Siliguri

Mizoram

Railways

2014-15

Ludhiana

Services

Punjab

2015-16

Nagpur

Services

Maharashtra

2016-17

Goa

West Bengal

Goa

2017-18

Kolkata

Kerala

West Bengal

2018-19

Ludhiana

Services

Punjab

2021-22

Manjeri

Kerala

West Bengal

2022-23

Riyadh

Karnataka

Meghalaya

2023-24

Yupia

Services Goa

Most successful teams in Santosh Trophy: Titles won by each team

Team

Titles

Last win

West Bengal

32

2016-17

Punjab

8

2007-08

Kerala

7

2021-22

Services

7

2023-24

Goa

5

2008-09

Mysore/Karnataka

5

2022-23

Bombay/Maharashtra

4

1999-00

Railways

3

1966-67

Hyderabad/Telangana

2

1957-58

Andhra Pradesh

1

1965-66

Delhi

1

1944-45

Manipur

1

2002-03

Mizoram

1

2013-14

Photo credit: Alamy