Shillong, January 19, 2026: The Meghalaya senior men’s football team will set off for Silapathar in Assam on Monday as they prepare for the start of their Group B campaign in the 79th Senior Men’s National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy 2025-26.
Meghalaya will play their opening match against Odisha on January 22 in the Upper Assam town. Ahead of their departure, the team was formally given a send-off on Friday at the MFA Ground in Polo, where MFA President Hamletson Dohling, along with senior members of the association, encouraged the players and wished them success.
Khlain Pyrkhat Syiemlieh will continue to lead the squad, which has undergone several changes since Meghalaya qualified from the preliminary stage last month. Some players are unavailable due to club commitments and other reasons. However, the positive aspect is that the team has had ample time to prepare under Syiemlieh’s guidance.
In Group A, hosts Assam, defending champions West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Rajasthan have been placed together.
Group B features Meghalaya, Odisha, Kerala, Services, Punjab and Railways. Kerala were runners-up last season and have won the Santosh Trophy several times, most recently in 2021-22. Services are former champions as recently as 2023-24 and were the team that eliminated Meghalaya in the quarterfinals last season.
Punjab last won the championship in 2007-08 but have finished runners-up three times since then. Railways, meanwhile, last lifted the trophy 60 years ago but were runners-up in 2013-14.
Neither Meghalaya nor Odisha have won the Santosh Trophy so far. Meghalaya’s best performance came in 2022-23 under Syiemlieh, when they narrowly lost 3-2 to Karnataka in the final.
Four teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals, which will be Meghalaya’s first objective in the tournament. The team, officials and football fans across the state are hopeful of a strong performance as Meghalaya look to take their campaign step by step.