Tata Steel in association with the Jharkhand Football Association (JFA) is hosting the East Zonal round of the 69th National Football Championship (NFC) Santosh Trophy 2015, the premier soccer event in India on January 15 to January 20, 2015. The coveted tournament will be held at Gopal Maidan and JRD Tata Sports Complex. Seven teams from the east zone namely Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Railways will participate in the tournament
Speaking on the occasion, Farzan R Heerjee, chief guest relations and sports, Tata Steel said ‘We at Tata Steel feel proud to host Santosh Trophy for the first time ever in Jamshedpur. We expect some quality matches during the tournament. The city has adequate infrastructure to host such a premier event. We are thankful to All India Football Federation (AIFF) who has given us an opportunity for organizing the premier tournament.’
The participating teams of the tournament have been divided into two groups. Group A consists of Jharkhand, Bengal and Bihar and while Group B has Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Railways. Top two teams from each group will qualify for the final round to be held in Goa from February 20th - March 10th, 2015.
Santosh Trophy is an annual Indian football tournament which is contested by states and government institutions. The tournament first began in 1941. The trophy is named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, a place which is now in Bangladesh. The Maharaja was also the President of the Indian Football Association, the football organisation of Bengal and the donators of the trophy.