Shillong, Feb 8: Services, who knocked Meghalaya out of the running for a quarterfinal spot, won the 79th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy 2025-26 by beating Kerala 1-0 in extra time in the final at Dhakuakhana, Assam, on Sunday.
The two sides had already met once before in this tournament, as both were in Group B. In that group stage meeting, Services won by the same margin and that result had the effect of also ending Meghalaya’s hopes of progressing to the quarters. That was Services’ only win of the group stage – they had experienced three draws (one against Meghalaya) and one defeat prior to that.
This was the eighth time that Services won the Santosh Trophy. Striker Abhishek Pawar slammed the only goal of a tense battle in the 109th minute, after regulation and the first half of extra time yielded no goals.
It was only the second time in the championship’s hallowed history that these two teams clashed in the final. They had last met in the 2012-13 edition’s final in Kochi when Services won 4-3 via the penalty shootout after the teams had drawn a blank at the end of regulation and extra time. Services thus repeated that winning act once more.
Kerala thus became runners-up for the second year in a row, after finishing second-best to West Bengal in 2024-25.
Extraordinarily, all four semifinalists emerged from Group B – Railways and Punjab being the other two. That justified the tag of Group of Death and puts Meghalaya’s performance into perspective; although disappointing to go out in the group stage, they were up against strong opposition.
After making it through Group B, Services defeated reigning champions West Bengal 3-2 on penalties after the match was deadlocked on 0-0 throughout. They then blanked Railways 2-0 in the semis. Kerala, meanwhile, trounced hosts Assam 3-0 in the QFs before thrashing Punjab 4-0.
(All India Football Federation photo)
