Santosh Trophy fixtures released

KOCHI: Defending champions Services, hosts Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Manipur have been given direct entry into the quarterfinal league of the 67th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy that will be played in two venues, Kochi and Kollam, from February 21 to 26.
Kochi will host both the semifinals on February 27 & 28 and the final on March 3.
Meanwhile, the AIFF has also released the fixtures for qualifying rounds to be held in Uttar Pradesh as well as in Kerala.According to the fixtures, two cluster matches comprising of minor teams and two groups matches featuring major teams will be held in Lucknow (UP) and Kollam (Kerala).
In all, 18 state teams have been clustered into four groups. Only the winners from these four groups qualify for the quarterfinal leagues to be held in Kerala. Twelve major teams including 31-time winners West Bengal, Delhi, Railways, five-time winners Goa will vie for the eight quarterfinal league berths.